A/N - This is a shorter chapter, but I really wanted to follow up on the next morning... Hope you like it!

My cell phone buzzed next to my pillow, waking me yet again; I checked the clock, 6:05am… why is the world intent on keeping me from sleep? This time the buzzing signaled a text from my mother,

"Lucy, you've got some s'plaining to do."

Logan. I rolled over to see that he was still sound asleep on the trundle, still dressed in his clothes from the day before. I guess this would take some s'plaining…

I got up and headed into the kitchen for coffee; I tried to close the door quietly as not to wake him, but almost yelled when I turned around. My mom was already sitting at the table with two cups of coffee in front of her. Oh boy.

"What are you even doing up this early?"

"Oh, funny story… See, Luke always gets up at an ungodly hour to go to the diner, usually he, being the angel that he is, makes a quiet exit to leave me to sleep. This morning however, he purposefully woke me up wanting to know why there was a Porsche parked outside. I thought he was messing with me, like maybe Publisher's Clearing House had shown up… but I look out the window, and low and behold: Porsche, right there in the driveway."

"Well…"

"You didn't! Not on Trudy!"

"Trudy?"

She held her arm up to my bedroom door, and replied a tone that told me I should have already known, "Trudy the Trundle Bed."

I rolled my eyes. It was way too early for this... Besides, that ship sailed a long time ago. "No, Mom. Would you just give it a rest already…"

"Well he showed up in the middle of the night, he's still here this morning… what other conclusion am I supposed to come to?"

I took a big sip of coffee and sat myself in the chair next to hers before I told her how he had shown up in the night before in a panic.

"Well, the boy certainly has a flair for dramatics."

Look who's talking… I decided to keep that comment to myself. "I couldn't let him drive back to New York last night. He was a mess."

"So, what? He just crashed here, and that's it?"

"Well…" She got an anticipatory look on her face. "… relax, Trudy is fine... But I did kiss him."

"You kissed him? How was it? Like just a kiss, or…?"

"It was… right." I smiled as I said it. It wasn't like it was some big passionate, dramatic kiss; but it was hardly just a kiss. I don't think it was possible for us to have just a kiss. It was one kiss, but in that moment, it was right. He needed it. I needed it.

"Well a kiss is a step in the right direction…"

"The right direction? You're rooting for this? Even after…"

"I'm rooting for you to be happy. Hun, I could have killed that kid for walking out like that, for breaking your heart, but the two of you… I mean, you guys clearly have a long way to go to figure out all of this…" She gestured dramatically between me and where he was presumably still asleep to emphasize her point. "…but if this is what you want, if you say it's right…" She shrugged her shoulders with a half-smile.

She wasn't thrilled, but she was accepting. If this worked out, she would come around.

We sat there in the morning quiet for a few minutes, letting it all sink in. Our collective silence was broken by the sound of my door opening, and a half-asleep Logan muttering, "Ace?"

He froze, hand halfway through his hair, completely unprepared to be face to face with my mother, and obviously unsure of what he should do next. "Uh…"

My mom, bless her, picked up her coffee, and put her hands up as she left the table, "I'm not here!" I heard her footsteps go up the stairs.

Logan was looking at the floor, biting his bottom lip, clearly embarrassed by what had just occurred.

I had an uncontrollable urge to giggle and I put my hand over my mouth in an attempt to stifle it.

"What could possibly be funny?" It wasn't really funny, but never in a million years would I have imagined this scenario. It was like we like we were college kids being walked in on at my grandparents' vow renewal all over again… at least we were fully clothed this time.

"Coffee?" He nodded his head as he finally managed to move himself from the spot he had been rooted in. He collapsed into the chair that my mother had vacated. Figuring he was in more immediate need of it than I was, I gave him the cup that was already in my hand before getting up to get another.

I sat back down next to him. "You okay?"

He looked up at me from his coffee with one eyebrow raised, implying that it had been a stupid question. I started to giggle again, but this time he just ignored me and rested his head into his hand as he leaned his elbow on the table.

I managed to compose myself. "Logan?"

"Does she hate me? I would probably hate me if I were her." He was sincerely concerned about this.

His ability to be self-deprecating was endearing, but he had to know it wasn't that simple. He knew that she and I talked about everything.

"Shes…" I didn't know if I could explain the understanding we had come to about him. "…things aren't black and white like that with her."

He sighed and sipped his coffee. I really hadn't had time to imagine what our conversation would be like this morning. I was trying to decide what to say, but he started first...

"I should get back to the city." What? He showed up here, we finally kissed, and we're not going to even talk about it?

He got up from the table and headed back to my room.

"You don't have to…" He had put on his shoes, taken his keys from the dresser, and was on his way to the front door by the time I caught up with him

He opened the door to leave. I didn't understand what was happening. "Hey…"

He was already down the steps and on the lawn when I finally shouted at him, "Logan!"

He stopped, turned around and looked up at me. I was genuinely confused by what was going on here.

"What was that? You show up last night, an absolute mess, you make me kiss you, and now you try to take off? What happened to not walking away?"

He looked ashamed. "This is so…" He was searching for the right word.

"Complicated?"

"Yes. This… us… life… it's all complicated. And now your mom's in on it, and she's not happy."

"Of course it's complicated, Logan. Did you expect it to be easy?"

When he had apologized in the rain I knew that's what he had wanted; he wanted to say sorry and go back to us. But it was never going to be that simple.

"As far as my mother goes, she has been in on it the whole time… what happened back then, what's been going on now. I can't actually speak for her, but do you think we would be standing here right now if she really thought that badly about it? Besides, if I recall correctly, your family has never been fans of mine."

I saw a hint of a smile on his face. After a pause the air seemed to have lightened a bit, and he responded, "If I recall correctly, I didn't make you kiss me."

I could feel my cheeks blushing. I looked at the ground, "You know what I meant… The last few days have just been so emotional, and…"

"Complicated?"

"…then when you showed up last night so worried…"

"Rory…"

"…and you sent me tacos."

"Tacos? The tacos are what did it?" I finally looked up at him, to see a bewildered smile on his face.

I let out a small laugh and started to look down again, a little embarrassed, but he gently raised my chin with his hand and looked into my eyes; he was serious at first, but then he smiled.

"If I had known that it was only going to take tacos, I would have skipped the drinks and taken you out for Mexican in the first place."

He moved his hand from my chin to the back of my neck, while his other hand slid around my waist as he pulled me close to him. He kissed me... like really kissed me. The kind of kisses I had dreamt about for years. I know I had kissed him last night, but this… this was an eyes closed, take my breath away, real kiss.

When we broke apart I let myself fall into his arms, like I had wanted to outside of the bar. He leaned his forehead against mine and sighed, "I should have done that the other night."

I smiled and looked up at him, I was glad he hadn't. It would have been different. This was right, to be honest and sober, to be fully aware, to be able to feel every part of that kiss.

"I mean it, Ace. I kicked myself the whole way home for not kissing you right then and there. And then last night, when I heard about that accident, when I wasn't sure if… I was afraid I would never get the chance… I don't want to miss any more chances; no more walking away. I don't want to mess this up again."

I was fighting tears at this point.

"I don't want to mess this up, either… I don't want to rush this." I mimicked my mother's hand gesture from earlier, even though I knew it was lost on him.

"Okay." There is that word… I didn't get to finish that thought. He wrapped me up in another long kiss. I have really missed kissing him.

He ran his fingers through my hair and held me as we stood there for a few minutes longer.

His cell phone ringing broke the silence. He looked at it, but didn't answer. Instead he turned back to me apologetically, "I really do need get back into the city today, but if you want me to…"

"It's okay. Go…"

"You're sure?"

I nodded.

"When are you coming back to the city?"

"Tomorrow afternoon."

He smiled, "I'll be waiting." He kissed my forehead before getting in his car.

I watched him back out of the driveway before I started back into the house. This was really happening. We were really happening.

** I do not own any characters or content related to Gilmore Girls, I Love Lucy, or any other entities mentioned. **

A/N - I hope you are all as excited as I am to see where they go from here. As always, follow, favorite and comment. I love hearing your feedback - it keeps me motivated to keep writing! xx