AN: Hi everyone, thank you again for all the wonderful reviews and PMs that I got! It is amazing to see all of the support for Gilmore Girl Fanfiction this long after the show ended. I apologize again that this took so long, the beginning of school came way faster than I thought it would. I also wanted to let all of you know that I am working on updates for The Storm and About Time.
Enjoy! And don't forget to review!
They managed to make it through the majority of the evening without incident. Cocktails and dinner went off without a hitch, but now came the truly excruciating part of the night. Dancing.
As soon as the music started, Logan looked over at Rory and saw her face fall. Rory loved dancing with Logan, she said it made her feel like a princess in a Disney movie to be able to move around the floor the way they could. He wanted nothing more than to walk across the room, pull the ring out of her purse, put it on her finger, and ask his fiancée to dance. But he knew that he couldn't.
Thankfully, Logan saw Straub ask Rory to dance. He watched Straub lead his granddaughter to the floor. The man was beaming with pride. Only Rory could wrap the former Connecticut Supreme Court Justice around her finger.
Logan was so caught up in watching Rory and Straub dance that he didn't notice someone standing next to him. "So little brother, were you planning on acknowledging me at all tonight?"
He quickly turned around and pulled his sister into a hug. "Honor! I didn't think you were coming tonight, didn't Josh have some work event he had to go to?"
Honor rolled her eyes, "turns out, this is the damn work event. I finally have a valid excuse not to attend this stupid fundraiser, and the excuse ends up being the fundraiser. Just figures…"
Logan laughed at his sister antics; Honor hated these events even more than he did. Before she got engaged to Josh, Shira and Mitchum were constantly setting her up with their friends' sons. Honor attended every society function with a different man on her arm, and it drove her batty. Even after she started dating Josh, their parents insisted that Honor continue attending the events with various men in order to fulfill their "prior commitments" to their friends.
Honor threw a crystal vase at a wall when Shira informed her of this fact, and then refused to attend any events at all until her parents allowed Josh to be her date. The standoff lasted for five events, and their parents only budged after rumors started going around that Honor stopped attending the events to hide a pregnancy. Shira and Mitchum caved after hearing that tidbit of information floating around, they only insisted that at the next event Honor wear a dress that was tighter around her stomach to dispel the rumors that she was a few months pregnant.
Honor grabbed Logan's hand and pulled him towards the dance floor. "Come on Logan, lets dance. Josh is tied up with business associates and I see Mom heading towards us with some society ditz in tow for you."
He smiled at his sister, eternally grateful that her "shira" radar was more finely tuned than his. "Sure Honor, whatever you want."
Meanwhile, Francine Hayden was on the warpath and heaven help anyone who came between her and Shira Huntzberger. Francine couldn't believe what Rory had told her, or what Emily had filled her in on. She couldn't understand how anyone could possibly treat her sweet granddaughter as horribly as the Huntzberger's had treated her.
She stopped when she saw Straub take Rory out to dance. Rory was breathtaking, the perfect combination of Lorelai and Christopher. Francine didn't know if she would ever forgive herself for rejecting her granddaughter for almost twenty years, blaming Rory for everything that went wrong in Christopher's life. It wasn't fair to Rory, and it wasn't true either.
Francine was so caught up in watching her husband and granddaughter spin around the dance floor that she didn't even hear Emily walk over.
"It makes you feel whole again, doesn't it? Seeing them together, it makes you feel whole."
She smiled at her best friend. "Yes it does. I never realized that a part of my life was missing until she came back into it. Now, I can't believe how much of her life we missed."
Emily heard the hint of sadness in Frannie's voice. She remembered feeling the same when Rory started coming for Friday night dinner's all those years ago. She and Richard had missed out on so much of Rory's childhood that it almost felt like they would never truly get to know their granddaughter.
She placed an arm around Francine. "It gets better with time. You slowly learn things and hear stories about her life. The puzzle begins to piece itself together. Plus, Lorelai basically had a camera glued to her hand during Rory's childhood, there are so many photo albums for you to look at."
"Thank you Emily." The two women smiled at each other and just reminisced in silence.
Shira Huntzberger looked out on the dance floor as Logan twirled Honor in a circle, the two of them smiling and laughing at each other as they automatically danced to the music.
"Wonderful event dear." Mitchum kissed Shira's cheek. "Everything is going perfectly. I think it is the best fundraiser yet."
"Thank you Mitchum, I'm glad everyone is enjoying themselves." Her eyes traveled to Rory, "I only wish that girl wasn't here. I mean honestly, I know she is Emily and Richard's granddaughter, but she is not part of this world."
Mitchum nodded his head in agreement, he wasn't fond of Rory Gilmore. She was messing with his plans for Logan. He only hoped that they would be able to completely drive her away soon. "I know dear, but her grandparent's invited her, and Emily and Richard are part of this world."
"Yes I know, but where does she get the nerve to speak to Straub and Francine Hayden," she whined. "Let alone dance with Straub. Francine won't even give me the time of day, and I haven't seen you speak to Straub all night, but some how Rory Gilmore gets their attention right away."
Mitchum kept quiet as Shira continued on her rant about Rory Gilmore, nodding his head from time to time. Shira was starting in on Lorelai, attacking the fact that she left Hartford when she got pregnant and refused to marry the boy that got her pregnant, whoever it was.
Shira and Mitchum did not realize that their entire conversation had been overheard by Emily and Francine, who were standing within earshot. Francine Hayden's blood was boiling.
Emily saw her face and knew that she was going to lose her temper soon. "Francine don't, not here."
"But Emily!"
Emily sighed, "trust me, I understand how much you just want to go and rip out her hair for talking about Rory and Lorelai like that, but its not worth it."
"Oh Emily, I wasn't planning on going over and ripping her hair out just yet. I have a much better plan, one that will put Shira Huntzberger in her place once and for all."
Francine grabbed Emily's hand, "just go tell Straub that I need him, have Rory dance with a friend of hers, and tell Elias to come over here."
Before Emily could respond, Francine hurried off. Emily quickly found Elias and filled him in on what she and Francine overheard Shira saying, and she swore she saw steam coming out of the man's ears.
Elias was seeing red, "I swear to god, I have half a mind to banish that woman to Siberia. She has no sense of what she says or who she says things about. Emily, I apologize for the things she said. I hope you know that none of it was even remotely close to true."
Emily Gilmore smiled at the man, "Don't worry about it Elias, just go help Francine with whatever she plans on doing, lord knows I cant do anything."
He nodded his head and started to make his way over towards Shira and Mitchum.
Rory and Straub were in the middle of a waltz when she felt a tap on her shoulder. "Mind if I cut in, your Honor?"
Struab laughed, "Finn, I have told you countless times, do not call me 'your honor,' I am no longer on the bench. Please, call me Straub."
Finn smiled at the man, "I will agree to use your name in private, but if I address you by anything other than "your Honor" or "Sir" at an event like this, my parents will disown me."
He sighed, "very well then, "sir" it is." Straub looked at Rory, "I suppose it was only a matter of time before I lost the company of my granddaughter to one of your friends."
Rory swatted her grandfather's arm, "Grandfather don't be ridiculous. We can keep dancing, Finn can wait his turn."
"Actually luv, I was sent here at the request of your grandmothers." Finn looked at Straub, "apparently Francine needs you immediately." Finn nodded towards Shira and Mitchum, "Something to do with them."
Rory watched her grandfather's face turn cold, she had never seen him like this before. Straub gave Rory's hand to Finn, "take care of her Finn." Before he left, Straub whispered to Rory, "don't worry Lorelai Leigh, we will take care of the Huntzberger's."
Before Rory could even think about what was going to happen between her grandparents and the Huntzberger's, Finn pulled her into a dance as the music changed. Rory laughed as Finn spun her out, she was always amazed at how well the Australian could dance in light the amount of alcohol in his system at any given time. As Finn pulled her back into his arms, she smiled up at him. "You know Finn, if I didn't know better I would think that you were flirting with me right now."
He chuckled and whispered to her, "Luv, I'm afraid that no matter how attracted I am to you, nothing could ever come of it. Even innocent flirtations." He looked at her pointedly, "Logan would come after me in my sleep with a blunt object if I made a move on his fiancée."
Rory playfully hit him. "Logan isn't that protective."
"Reporter Girl, you clearly have forgotten about my birthday party last year, when Logan was chomping at the bit because you showed up with Robert. We had to restrain him for most of the night so that he wouldn't punch the guy out!"
Rory sighed, she actually had forgotten about Finn's Quentin Tarantino party. "Yeah I did manage to block out that particular incident. I wasn't even his girlfriend at that point."
Finn was about to respond when he heard a loud noise from across the ballroom.
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