Sun-kissed Confession

The next morning Rory, Lorelai, Stephanie and Lane piled into the town car that was taking them to Hartford's high-priced shopping district.

Rory stared out of window, counting the trees as she clenched her blackberry tightly. She was certain Logan would have replied by now.

Her friends were clenching their blackberries as well. Lorelai was talking to Emily, going over the final details for the Garden Party, while Lane was giving Finn a how-to on diaper changing. The pair had a fulltime nanny, though Finn insisted that he changed all the diapers when he was home.

Stephanie was chatting with Colin, who was away on business in Vancouver. Colin had landed some hotshot geeky computer job. His father had gone through the roof, since it was always assumed he would follow in his father's footsteps at McCrea Accounting. In fact, now that Rory thought about it, in their youth Colin and Stephanie had a goody two-shoes image and never wanted to rock the boat. Oh, how different they were in adult life.

They finally became boyfriend and girlfriend during their college graduation ceremony, after years of dancing around each other, followed by months of 'no strings', and even now, they simply lived together. They weren't engaged, or married, or pregnant.

Their families desperately wanted to join the McCrea's and Vanderbilts for eternity, but they would have none of it. The way they saw it, they were committed, no piece of paper would tell them otherwise. Besides, joining two high-profile families brought on too much legal hassle and, more importantly, too much satisfaction for the older generation of Golden's.

Now, with that, Rory could relate.

"Can we please go do something?" 15-year-old Colin whined.

"We are doing something, Colin," Stephanie retorted as she flipped the page of her Cosmo Girl.

It was the summer of 2002, and the gang had piled into the Hayden Jet and flown down to Paradise Island in the Bahamas, where they always spent three weeks in the summer. The rest of the summer, they spent lazing around the Hayden Pool, soaking up the sun, swimming and barbequing.

"Yeah, Col," Lane added, "Just be glad we are finally here!" and flipped through her copy of Rolling Stone.

"Yeah, Col," Finn mimicked Lane's tone as he smiled widely at her, and then focused back to Colin, "I can't believe they made us stay a whole week at the Vineyard!"

"I know," Logan agreed, "Last year they only made us stay three days…."

Rory nodded in agreement, as she looked up from her novel, "It sucked!"

Spending the first days of summer at Martha's Vineyard with the Golden Clan was also a tradition. One that the group of friends didn't enjoy, but it was something that had to be done. It wasn't that they didn't like the Vineyard, since they did. They hated it because their parents, or in Rory's case, grandparents, made them put in appearances at all the so-called 'casual' functions, but in reality it was about being seen, and keeping up a picture perfect appearance. Growing up, Chris and Lorelai hated it, too and made it a point to escape to Paradise Island, and soon they took the whole gang along.

"Sitting on the beach all day does not constitute as doing something," Colin informed the group, as he scanned his surroundings. "Let's go jet skiing!"

"We're too young," Rory replied, without looking up from her novel.

"What?" Finn asked in amazement, "How do you know that?"

"Sign says fifteen," she pointed towards the beach hut, and continued reading.

"Ah! Crap!" Colin exclaimed, "Why couldn't you two be born in May like the rest of us?" and pointed towards Rory and Lane.

Rory shot him an apologetic smile, and went back to her book.

"Finn!" Lane rolled over on her side, so she was facing the young boy, "Can't you talk to the jet-ski guys?" She batted her eyelashes and smiled.

"For you, love," he grinned, "anything." He pressed a soft kiss on her lips and fished his black card out of his wallet. If his girl wanted to jet ski, then he would make that happen!

Logan, Colin, Stephanie and Rory were unfazed by this tiny display of affection. For as long as they could remember Lane and Finn was 'Lane-and-Finn'. They didn't need to define their relationship, since it was obvious that there were special. No one in the group questioned it, or worried about the possible negative effects it could have on their friendship, Lane-and-Finn was just accepted.

"Logan, man," he tapped his friend on the shoulder, "might need your help." And together the boys jogged toward the beach hut.

"You guys make me sick!" Stephanie told Lane and fished a soda out of the cooler. Lane ignored her, so she directed herself towards Colin.

"Want one?" she asked Colin who was staring at her. He had seen Stephanie in a bikini many times before, but for some reason today he felt like he needed to be close to her, that he should be securing a jet-ski for her, that he should, uh, kiss her.

"Hello? Earth to Col-Col," she waved her hand in front of his face.

"Huh?"

"I asked if Col-Col wanted a soda…" she asked, knowing she was pushing it by using his 'nick-name' twice. Who was she kidding? She liked to say Col-Col, just to push his buttons.

"Oh, sorry," he mumbled, "Sure," and he took the can from her. Obviously, not what Stephanie was hoping for.

Soon, Finn and Logan returned holding three jet-ski keys and six lifejackets.

"They only had two person jets," Logan explained as he passed around lifejackets.

"I didn't even get the chance to bribe them letting my underage girlfriend drive!" Finn exclaimed

"Shoot!" Lane bawled her fist in mock-frustration, as she held up Finn's card in the other hand, "When will we ever be able to use our powers for good?" The group burst out in laughter.

"Ace, you'll ride with me?" Logan asked, after the hysterics died down.

"You know," she sighed, looking up from her novel, "School has been out for a month, you don't have to call me that anymore!" Logan had taken to calling her Ace after mid-terms, since she basically aced every single test they took, where as he, though intelligent never got higher than a B.

"Rory," Stephanie called over her shoulder, "can we please not talk about school?"

"Yeah!" Finn added, and then, "last one who's in the water buys lunch!"

"I guess you'll have to ride with me," Logan grinned as he watched his friends run down the beach.

"I guess we are buying lunch, too," she laughed, placing her bookmark in her novel and shoving it in her beach tote. Her gaze met her friends climbing on to their skis'. Lane's arms were wrapped tightly around Finn's torso, clearly something he enjoyed. Stephanie was holding on to Colin, who was looking rather flushed.

"I wonder how long before Colin and Steph make it official," Rory mused aloud, something that caused Logan to shoot her a confused look.

"What do you mean?" Logan asked

"It's obvious that Colin likes her," Rory said matter-of-factly, getting up from her beach chair.

"He does?" Logan asked, as he looked at his friend yelling at Stephanie to sit down. "It doesn't seem like it."

"Well," Rory sighed as she handed Logan her suntan lotion, "trust me, he does."

Logan thought about this for a minute as he rubbed suntan juice on Rory's back and shoulders. Of course, he knew his friend liked Stephanie. Heck, he liked Stephanie, but not "like-like". He did not "like-like" anyone, though he always thought Gerri Halliwell – Ginger – looked hot.

"If you say so," Logan finally said, as he handed her back the bottle of lotion

"Don't worry" Rory said, "She likes him, too." She paused, before she sprayed, "it's going to be cold,"

"Really?"

"Yes," she said referring to the Colin/Steph situation and started smearing the lotion out on his back. "We've talked about it before, about, you know, who we'd date" Rory admitted before she could regret it. She was the quiet, closed one of the group, but unintentionally Logan had a weird way of getting her to spill her guts.

"You have?" Logan was intrigued, "I've never heard you mention it before…" He silently handed her, her lifejacket.

"That's 'cause we talk about it when you guys aren't around, Huntz," Rory smiled, though she rolled her eyes, and fasted her jacket.

"Is that so?" Logan asked playfully, "I don't think I like being left out…."

"Oh really?" She teased back, "What are you going to do about it?"

He grinned at her, threw the jet-ski keys up in the air, fully intending to catch them, and run off, but Rory snatched them instead.

"Ha," she laughed, "I guess that means….nothing!" She lightly touched his chest, before she ran off towards the jet ski.

"Hey!" He called out after her, increasing his speed to catch her.

He caught her, causing them both to hit the sand in a fit of laughter.

"Your fast," she laughed.

"Gimme the keys, Ace," he laughed back, trying to grab the keys.

She shook her head, "Only if you pry them from my cold dead body."

Logan wasn't one to go down without a fight, so a battle of the keys ensued, with them rolling over each other. Finally, they ended up in the water, both laughing hysterically, where Logan snatched the keys from her tight grip.

He got up out of the water, and stuck out his hand to help Rory up, "Good fight, Ace," he smiled.

She nodded in agreement, and kept a tight grip on his hand as they looked over the water, trying to spot their friends.

"Let's go," Logan exclaimed, and ran over to their jet ski, never letting go of her hand.

"Housekeeping!"

A loud knock awakened Logan the following day.

"Later," he managed and luckily the knocking stopped.

Where was he? More importantly, what had he done? He opened his eyes, and noted his room was spinning ever so slightly, his head felt like a box of cotton balls. He tried to swallow a few times – his throat did not feel too much better, and his tongue felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.

He definitely was hung-over. He padded over to the bathroom, washed his face and brushed his teeth. Then, he walked over to the mini-fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. Then, he walked back to the bathroom, peed and grabbed a bottle of aspirin.

He climbed back in bed, shook two aspirins in his hand, and chugged down the water. About twenty minutes later the previous evening's events came back to him. Images of a sticky brown pub, a toothless homeless guy, bad jazz tunes, missing Rory and endless glasses of alcohol filled his brain. He ran his hand through his hair and took another sip of water. Bright red lips painted on a pale face floated into the mix. You can call me Red.

Shit! He sprung out of bed and started pacing the room as panic washed over his body. What had he done?

He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and examined his appearance closely – a deep brown mark tainted his skin. Then he remembered, Red had initiated the incident and attacked his neck with her mouth. He remembered how he pushed her off, however, the mere thought of him contemplating cheating on Rory was too much.

He let himself fall on the bed, and he found his blackberry on the pillow next to him. He had no clue how it ended up there, but he did have one new text message: from Rory. He cursed himself for not checking his phone last night, before Red came into the picture, but what happened, happened and he praised his drunken ass for breaking it off.

"I don't" illuminated letters filled the screen.

This instantly sobered him up, he knew that by any stretch of the imagination he and Rory were not in the clear yet, especially after last night's activities, but these two words indicated that he, – they – had a fighting chance. And that was enough to make his heart soar.

Rory, carrying a handful of high-priced designer shopping bags, entered her living room that afternoon and let out a deafening shriek.

"Shit, Logan!" she breathed as she tried to catch her breath, "You scared the freaking crap out of me!"

He got up from the couch and picked up the bags she just dropped. Then, he took the final bag she was still holding on to, from her hand and placed them all neatly of the couch. He walked back to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry,"

They stood there, like that, in awkward silence for a few minutes until Rory broke the silence, "I thought you weren't supposed to be coming back until next week…"

"I wasn't planning on it …," he admitted

"What changed your mind?"

"You don't hate me," he stated simply, though it was becoming painfully clear that he hadn't thought this through.

During the flight home, he imagined himself uttering those words; a magical moment would happen between them and all would be forgotten. She would run in his arms, whisper, "I love you" in his ear and they would spend the rest of the day moving him into her room. Okay, maybe he hadn't imagined it like that completely, since it was sappy but he couldn't help that the Notebook was the movie on his flight….

Rory brushed his hand away from his shoulder, "So, you come home and scare me half to death?"

"I wanted to surprise you…"

"I know, it's not that,' since the grand gesture warmed her hart. "Why now, Logan?"

"I don't know," he told her, not yet willing to confess about the almost cheating. "I was sitting in this old pub in London, and there was this couple, and they looked so happy. I don't know, Ror, it could've been us…"

"If you had taken me on business trips, yeah," she said bitterly

"Rory, don't do this, I'm trying to make this work. I wasn't here before, but I'm here now."

This made her nervous. As much as she loved that Logan came home, it was so out of character. Something was up. It had to be.

"Well, that's just great," she said sarcastically.

Logan sighed – winning Rory over was going to be harder than he thought.

"Wait here," he told her and moments later, he returned with a large gift box and a much, much smaller one. "Do the big one first," he ordered gently.

She eagerly opened the large Prada box, and found a gorgeous, leather tote. It was the one she had been eyeing for a couple of months, the one that had a three-month wait, and it was the one that she had just bought.

"Thank-you," she smiled tightly.

"What's wrong? This is the one, right?" he asked concerned, he was certain that this is the one she wanted, the one he paid double for since he wasn't one the waiting list at the London Prada store…

"Yes, it is. It's just that I bought this bag this afternoon," she said softly, not to hurt his feelings since she did give him major points for remembering the bag, "It's in that large bag, over there," she pointed.

He grabbed the shopping bag and pulled out the exact purse she was holding and let out a hearty laugh. "Do I at least get points for remembering?"

She nodded, "Don't worry about it. I'll give this one to Lorelai, since Chris put her on a bag limit, and keep yours,"

He nodded, and handed her the tiny box. It was jewelry; it had to be, since it was always jewelry. She hoped that this box contained the emerald earrings to match the bracelet she got last time, but to her surprise a pair of children's size earrings, in the shape of a giraffe, shimmered back at her.

She looked up at him, incredulously.

"I saw them, and I thought of you," Logan explained as he saw the confused look in her eyes.

"Since I have a long neck like a giraffe?"She said, not really knowing what else to say.

"Nooo" he breathed in, "they reminded me of the first time we met," feeling slightly hurt that Rory did not see the connection right away. On the other hand, he was being unrealistic, seeing the stress their relationship endured.

"We were kids, Logan," she said, snapping the jewelry box open and shut, "You and I met in, gosh, what? Pre-school?"

He nodded. "Stephanie dragged you and Lane over."

"I was so nervous that day," she reminisced. She couldn't recall the exact events of that day, but she remembered bringing her stuffed toy bunny, and Logan's toy giraffe.

"You thought Lorelai and Chris left you there," Logan said.

Rory reopened the jewelry box, staring at the giraffes.

"Timmy," she said, finally realizing the significance in Logan's gift. "That's really sweet," she said sincerely and placed a soft kiss on his cheek.

"You know, I kept all the junk from when we were kids – I bet you it's in the basement, somewhere," she smiled broadly, feeling happier then she had in months,

"Let's go look…"

She attempted to grab Logan's hand, and drag him out of the living room in search of the box that contained happy childhood memories, but he grabbed her hand, pulled her back in and sat her down on the couch. The nagging feeling she had earlier returned immediately.

She inhaled deeply, "So, why did you really come back early?"

Honestly, she knew all along that Logan's "you don't hate me bit" was a cover-up. She hated that she knew him so well; he was the type that only had a great 'a-ha' moment, after something, or possibly, in this case someone had happened.

He sat directly across from her, on the coffee table, their knees touching ever so slightly. She was staring at the designer vase that graced the end table, anything to avoid looking at him. He cast his glaze to plush rug, too ashamed to look her in the eye.

"Rory…."

"Who, Logan?" she cut him off, and brushed a stray hair from her forehead.

"It wasn't like that," he said softly, he raised his head to meet her eyes, filled with hurt and sorrow. He hoped she would find the same look in his eyes.

"Oh, it wasn't like that," she bitterly mocked him. "How did it happen, then? She seduced you at a bar, even though anyone with a working brain could tell that she is a part time bartender full time slut, dragged you back to your hotel and practically had her way with you right then and there?"

Logan stared at her for a moment, finding it funny that she painted the precise picture of what happened. Too bad she would never believe his story now.

"You wouldn't believe me, if I told you that's exactly how it happened…," he said softly.

"Try me," she angrily folded her arms across her chest and listen to his explanation.

"….So, I pushed her off, and she left. Rory, I was drunk, I – I, I'm sorry," he concluded his confession.

Rory remained silent for quite a while, obviously processing what her husband just told her. Finally, she said, "So, you think I'm a good kisser?"

He nodded, and was met by more silence. "Are you …?" he finally dared.

"Mad, angry, hurt, betrayed?" she supplied, and continued before he could respond, "All of the above...my gut tells me to go with your story – believe you," she paused and glared at him, "so I'm going with my gut."

He swallowed and nodded for her to continue, since he knew she wasn't done yet.

"It's not about Red – you came thisclose to breaking our agreement…"

"I know, Rory, I know," he said solemnly and boldly placed his hand over hers. This time she didn't swat it away.

"I don't want to fight anymore," she whispered, small tears forming in her eyes.

"Me neither."

"I want to put this in the past, everything," she admitted.

"Me too," he agreed.

"I want to be happy – with you," he said, opening up communication in a way they had never experienced before.

"Me too – with you" Rory said, and brushed a few tears from her cheek.

"I don't hate you – but I don't love you like I did," she admitted.

"I know me too," he whispered somewhat apologetically.

"I want it back," she said with determination in her tone.

"Me too," he nodded seriously, "I'll win you back."

"Okay," she smiled a little bit through her tears.

"Okay," he nodded, before leaning in and kissing her, in the sincerest way he had.

I know, high drama - but I love it :) Anyway, the next few chap's will contain a lot more flashbacks, and a lot more fluff. If you didn't get the reference to Rory being a good kisser, go back to the previous chapter. Let me know what you thought!! Love, Gilmoregirl19