"How can it possibly take you this long to get dressed?" Logan asked frustratedly as he sat on the edge of the bed with the newspaper waiting for Rory to finish getting ready.
"You want me to look pretty don't you?" she pouted as she walked out of the bathroom and moved over the the suitcase she had dedicated entirely to shoes, to put the finishing touches on her outfit.
"Yes, but I personally find you most appealing when you're wearing nothing at all, so the clothes you put on aren't going to make you look any prettier."
Rory finished zipping up her calf-high, black, leather boots and stood up to look at her boyfriend, an expressionless look upon her face. "It's a good thing you're good in bed because it's comments like that which would have you sleeping alone otherwise."
"What'd I say?" Logan asked, completely clueless to his offense.
"You pretty much told me that my outfits make me look ugly," she told him angrily.
He looked at her in shock, wondering how the hell she'd come to such a conclusion. "I did not. All I said was that nothing can compare to your natural beauty," he corrected, trying desperately to fix his blunder.
The scowl on her face slowly broke and turned into a grin, as she was unable to maintain her serious facade any longer. "You should have seen the look on your face. You really thought I was mad at you. It was priceless," she said laughing as she walked up and stood in front of him. She leaned down to give him a quick kiss and then pulled back to rest her forehead against his.
"That was not nice," he pouted, falling back on the bed. "Monopoly I'm pro at, buying hotels is hardly different than buying newspapers, but I never win at mind games."
"Well later on we can play a different game and I'll let you win," she smirked, "Now get up."
"No," he said, grabbing a hold of her wrist. "I think you should join me down here instead," he pulled her down on top of him and she let out a tiny yelp. He lifted his head up to meet hers but she pulled away and stood back up again.
"No more smootches for you until you move your ass. We're going to be late meeting my Mom for brunch."
"Fine," he relented, getting off the bed. "I'm up, now I want my kiss." He leaned in and placed a peck on her lips.
"That's the best you can do?" she asked with a shake of her head.
"Anything more and we won't make it to brunch at all and I don't think that standing your mother up is the best way to get on her good side."
"No, she does like to be the center of attention and not showing up might make her a little testy. Let's go," she said grabbing onto his hand and leading him out of the room.
They walked downstairs and as she began to head for the front door of the Inn he stopped short. "Where are we going?" he asked her.
"To meet my Mom for brunch," she spoke to him as she would a small child.
He rolled his eyes. "Yes I get that, but I thought we were eating here."
"No," she replied as she turned back to the door and preceded to the exit. "We're going to Luke's."
"Are you insane?" he cried out.
She stopped again and turned to him. "Luke's has the best coffee, where else would we go?"
"Are you trying to get me killed?" he asked her with raised eyebrows. "Because you don't get to collect the inheritance unless you marry me first."
"Oh stop being so dramatic. Luke won't hurt you. He's a big teddy bear."
"He didn't seem very teddy bear like the last time we met, at Richard and Emily's vow renewal, and I don't expect a much better reaction after breaking up his nephew's engagement."
Rory sighed. "I'm not going to lie, he wasn't happy. But I spoke to him, and Mom spoke to him and he calmed down a bit and promised not to tear your arms out of their sockets."
"Good, because I'm rather fond of my arms, and the rest of my appendages as well."
"I'm fond of your appendages too," she returned with a smirk. "And I would not lead them to any harm."
"That's good to know, Ace," he replied with a laugh.
"Good, now that's settled, let's get going." She grabbed his hand and pulled him behind her as she made her way out of the Inn.
They made their way the short distance to town, Rory still dragging Logan with her. She seemed to go faster as she got closer and closer to Luke's, as though she had some super human ability to smell his coffee a mile away and the scent of it lured her in like the song of a siren. Logan tried to hold her back. He wasn't ashamed to admit he was scared of Luke. If Logan recalled properly, the man was very large and very protective. "Ace, slow down," he pleaded with her, trying to prolong the inevitable meeting.
"You slow down, you die, Logan," she said, continuing to hurry across the town square but still managing to throw him a smug look over her shoulder.
"Oh you think you're cute do you?" he asked, stopping and placing his hands on his hips, sending a faux withering stare at her back.
She finally stopped and turned around. "As a matter of fact, I do," she replied with a smirk, and mimicked his pose, placing her hands on her hips. "I think I'm cute enough to have you wrapped around my little finger." She held her right hand up and wiggled her pinkie at him.
"Well it is an awfully cute little finger, but is that cute digit really going to make me go in there with the scary man?" Logan nodded his head towards the diner.
Rory glanced at the diner then back at Logan, appearing to ponder the situation. She was silent for a moment before answering. "Yes." She walked up to him and grabbed each of his hands in hers and began walking backwards towards Luke's, trying to drag him like the stubborn mule he was being. He refused to move, mostly because he was highly amused by her actions and not because he didn't want to go. He was wary of Luke yes, but he knew better than to think he could get out of it. She continued to pull at him with all her strength but he didn't budge. Her hands slipped from his and she fell backwards onto the grass, landing on her ass. Logan was worried for a moment but she quickly broke out in hysterical laughter, falling the rest of the way back to lie on the grass. He smiled and laughed with her.
"Have a nice trip?"
"Oh shoosh you," she scolded, her laughter dying down. She sat back up and Logan reached a hand out to her to help her stand. She grabbed a hold and he yanked her up with such force that she once again lost her balance, this time falling forward, right into his open arms. "Much better landing this time," she smiled up at him.
"I whole heartedly concur," he mumbled, bringing his lips down to meet hers. She ran her hands up his chest, bringing them over his shoulders and to the nape of his neck, pressing his head down to deepen the kiss. His hands fell to her hips and, forgetting their current location they migrated a little lower to rest on her ass.
"Yes, definitely a much better landing," she said once she'd pulled back.
"We should get to brunch before we give your town a show to remember us by," Logan said with a smirk.
"Ooh yes, brunch. I love brunch, it's my favorite meal of the day because it's two, two, two meals in one," she replied excitedly. She turned away from Logan and towards the dinner. As she was turning she could sense Logan stiffen slightly and she was about to ask what was wrong when she spotted him. He was standing just outside of Luke's not more than 100 yards away. He was frozen, his eyes glued to her and Logan.
"He...he was supposed to be gone," she stuttered.
"You OK, Ace?" She could feel Logan's hand resting reassuringly on her shoulder but mostly she was concentrating on Jess. He was not supposed to see that, he was supposed to be gone.
Jess finally began to move, stalking across the square, trying to circumvent his way around the couple. His attempt to ignore them was made infinitely more difficult as Rory bolted towards him, calling out his name. "Jess! Jess wait, stop!" Rory finally caught up to him and reached out to grab his arm. "Jess, please, let me explain."
"There's nothing to explain Rory," he spun around to face her. "You broke up with me, remember? Your free to do whatever or whoever you choose," he spat at her, nodding his head towards Logan.
"You right, I am. But that doesn't mean I wanted you to see it. I swear, I'm not trying to flaunt it in front of you."
"Funny, that was pretty much what you said the other day when I asked you if you were bringing him here, and yet, here he is. Oh and making out in the dead fucking center of town? That was a nice touch."
"Actually you didn't ask if he was coming you asked if he was here and at the time he wasn't. But you were supposed to be back in Philly by now and just because I don't want to rub my new relationship in your face doesn't mean I'm going to hide it either. He has every right to be here, I was just trying to do you a favor by waiting. How the hell was I supposed to know you were going to stay longer than planned?"
"Soooorry," he said with exaggerated sarcasm. "Next time I want to spend a little extra time with my family I'll be sure to send you a memo so that you can plan your groping sessions more accordingly. Of course I'm on my way out of town now so feel free to take your boy toy and go have sex in the gazebo because as long as I'm not around to see it, it's all OK."
"Funny, you didn't seem to have a problem with public displays of affection when it was you and me right after I broke up with Dean. But of course now that you're not getting your way you turn right back into a sullen little boy. Now I'm sorry you had to see that but if you're going to insist on acting like a three year old than I'm not even going to waste my time trying to placate you."
"Fine, are we done here?"
"I've got nothing left to say to you."
"Good, then the feeling's mutual. Have a nice life Rory," he responded angrily before turning and storming off.
Rory stood there, silently fuming for a moment before she felt Logan's hand gently squeeze her shoulder. "You OK?" he asked her.
"He's acting like such an asshole, I swear it's like he's that emotionally screwed up 18 year old kid all over again. I don't expect him to be happy for us or anything but can't he at least act civilly?" She leaned back a little into Logan, wanting to feel his support, wanting to be reminded that the sacrifice she made with Jess was more than worth it because now she was with the man she was truly meant to be with.
"He's angry, I can hardly say I blame him," Logan responded.
Rory turned around to look at him quizzically. "Are you seriously defending him? Because if you are I'm going to start suspecting that we've been sucked into an alternate universe."
"Well, Stars Hollow is sort of like a whole other world," he replied with a grin. "But seriously, all I'm saying is that I know what it's like not to have you, to see you with someone else. I gotta say, I wasn't fond of that experience and it's gotta be pretty sucky for him too."
"So you feel sorry for him?" she asked disbelievingly.
"Heck no, better him than me," he replied jokingly, though that sentiment was actually pretty accurate.
She circled her arms around his waist and hugged herself tight to him, looking up into his eyes. "I love you, Logan." He smiled back down at her silently. "What?" she asked in response to his expression.
"I do believe that's the first time you said that first since we've been back together...I gotta say I like it."
"Well technically, I didn't say it first because in order for me to have said it first you would have to say it back, which by the way, you didn't," she retorted.
"Is that so?"
"Uh huh."
"I love you, Ace."
"That's more like it," she grinned, standing up on her tippy toes to place her lips softly against his. "So we're good?" she asked him.
He looked down at her curiously. "Why wouldn't we be?"
"You know, my going after him just now. It didn't mean anything; you know that, right"
"I can't exactly say I liked watching you chase after your ex to explain away one of our kisses, but I understand. No worries," he assured her.
"It would just be so much easier if it were anyone else, but Jess is never going to be completely gone. He's so much closer to his family than he used to be, probably because I kept dragging him back here to visit. It's just, there are always going to be more Thanksgivings or some other family event that brings us back here and I don't want things to be awful."
She was right, Jess would always keep coming back into her life. He wasn't particularly happy about that but he would have to get used to it; she'd chosen him in the end and that was what mattered. They were together now, no reason to keep being jealous of Jess. "He'll calm down, I wouldn't worry about it. Now, how about that brunch. I think it's fair to say we've kept your mother waiting long enough."
"Oh I wouldn't worry about that, she saw everything through the window of the diner." Rory pointed towards Luke's and waved at Lorelai through the glass. She probably made up her own dialog to go along."
"Crazy runs in your family, doesn't it?"
"It's highly suspected, they've taken some DNA samples and are analyzing them, trying to isolate the gene," she answered as they finally resumed their walk towards the diner. "You're OK going in there?" she asked, just outside the door.
"Now's as good a time as any, your Mom and Luke are going to have to get used to me eventually, I'm not going anywhere this time."
"Good, and Mom won't give you any problems. I told you, she's been really great about this whole thing. Luke promised to be nice too, which really only means that he won't threaten you with bodily harm, but that's just Luke for you. He'll warm up to you eventually."
"I guess I'll just have to work my infamous Huntzberger charm." Logan flashed his award winning smile.
"I don't think you can flirt your way into Luke's good graces," Rory joked.
"Hey, just because you were easy enough to win over with just my wiles doesn't mean that I don't have other methods. I am an equal opportunity charmer."
"If you say so," she looked at him warily as they entered the diner.
"Ah, if it isn't the fruit of my loins and her Limo Boy. How nice of you to to stop making scenes in the middle of town and come join Mommy," she smirked.
"Lorelai," Logan said politely, reaching out to shake her hand. "Nice to see you again."
"Limo Boy," she greeted, taking his hand in hers. "Hurt my baby again and I'll hire a crooked vet to castrate you in your sleep," she remarked, but she was smiling.
"A vet?" he asked curiously.
"Of course, they do have the most experience with that particular procedure and I wouldn't want to be totally cruel," Lorelai answered.
"Yes well, I don't make the same mistakes twice so you can hold off on setting up an appointment for a neuter."
"Good, then you may sit," she motioned to the seats across from her. "Luke, coffee," she called to her husband behind the counter.
Luke grunted but approached the table with the coffee pot. "Would it hurt you to occasionally treat me like a person instead of like Geraldo?" he asked his wife.
"As in Geraldo Rivera?" Logan whispered in Rory's ear, utterly confused by their conversation.
"No, as in Geraldo our coffee maker."
"Right, so that's where you got your weird tendency to name inanimate objects."
"It's where I get all my weird tendencies...except my strange love affair with the written word. I'm fairly certain Mom has never sniffed a book," she smiled at him and he laughed, remembering the image of her in the library with a Pushkin novel pressed to her nose.
Luke poured coffee in their mugs and Logan turned his attention to him. "Hi Luke, nice to meet you," he greeted.
"We've met," Luke responded gruffly.
Logan smiled sheepishly. "I remember, although I was kind of hoping you'd forgotten."
"Well, I didn't," Luke gave him a stony look before leaving the table.
"Wow, he barely said two words but he was just as scary as I remember."
"Aww, poor baby. You did good. Now drink your coffee, it'll calm you down," Rory placated, patting him soothingly on the back.
Logan took a sip of his coffee and set it back on the table. "Why is that Taylor guy staring at us through the window?" Logan nodded towards the soda shoppe.
"Oh, he probably just wanted to see how Luke reacted to you, make sure he didn't need to break out those ribbons," Rory explained.
"Wait, what about the ribbons? " Lorelai asked.
"Oh, Taylor cornered Logan last night and gave him the third degree, mentioned the ribbons and everything. I'm not sure if he's more concerned about the break up with me and Jess or if he thinks that it'll start a fight between you and Luke."
"I swear, you'd think now that we're married he'd have gotten rid of those damn things. We're not breaking up again. One day I'm going to break into his house and steal the ribbons and burn them into oblivion" Lorelai grumbled.
At that moment Babbette came walking into the diner. "There you are, sugahs," she greeted Rory and Lorelai. "And this handsome fella must be Logan, I'm Babbette," she greeted him with a flirtatious smile.
"Hello Babbette, it's a pleasure," he greeted, reaching a hand out to hers.
"Very nice," she said to Rory as she shook Logan's hand. "You sure do know how to pick the hunky ones."
"You hear that, Ace? I'm hunky," he grinned mischievously.
"Now see what you've done Babbette? His ego's already so big it hogs all the covers."
"I do not hog the covers," he said defensively.
"Yes you do. You're a cover hog and you know it."
"Well...I have cold feet," he tried to defend himself.
"Aww, you two are adorable," Babbette told them. "Although I did hear something about making a scene in the square a little while ago."
Rory rolled her eyes, "We did not make a scene."
Lorelai gave her a pointed look. "You sooo made a scene." She turned to Babette. "These two decided to engage in some heavy petting outside and Jess caught them, he wasn't a happy camper, I can tell you that."
"Who would be after letting a gem like you get away?" Babbette replied.
"See told ya," Logan whispered in Rory's ear. The feel of his breath on her skin tickled and she responded with a giggle.
"Ahh to be young and in love," Babbette said dreamily. "Morey and I used to be like that." Rory cringed internally at the image that had just been put in her head. "Well, I should get going. It was good seeing you. Logan, it was a pleasure," she told him with a wink.
"Bye, it was lovely meeting you," he replied smoothly. Once Babbette was gone Logan turned to Rory and Lorelai. "There's never a dull moment in this town is there?"
"Nope," Lorelai confirmed. "And there's never a dull moment in the life of a Gilmore girl. You sure your ready for that commitment?"
He glanced and Rory with a smile. "I wouldn't want to miss a minute of it."