The alarm clock on Logan's side of the bed started to sound at 5:30 the next morning.

He groaned as he reached for the snooze button, before rolling over and wrapping his arm around my waist, clearly not ready to start the day.

It's Thursday. Dominic was supposed to call me last night.

I sat up and reached for my phone only to find that the battery was dead. I didn't bring my phone charger when we stopped at my apartment last night. Crap. I have to know if my article made the cut.

Logan had let his face roll into the pillow when I got up from under his arm. When I started to get out of bed he mumbled, "Ace, what are you doing? Come back." But I was in a panic.

I wasn't even thinking straight, "Do you get a newspaper?"

He had finally pulled himself up to leaning on his elbow. "Do you know what I do for a living?" Of course he gets a paper.

"What newspaper?"

This was obviously more than he was ready for at this hour. He ran a hand through his messy hair, "Like all of them, why?"

I took off out of the bedroom and was halfway down the stairs by the time he got to the doorway. "What is wrong with you?"

I didn't answer, but I did open the front door to find a stack of newspapers in the hall. He really did get all of them. I grabbed the stack and hurriedly shuffled through them at the kitchen counter. I only needed to find one.

By the time he had sleepily made his way down the stairs and to one of the stools at the breakfast bar I had found it, and left the rest of them in a heap on the counter.

"What's all this about, Ace?"

I ignored him. I couldn't talk and skim at the same time. I flipped through the pages as quickly as I could, in a desperate search for the Features section, and then scanning the articles until… I screamed. It was there. I have a byline in The New York Times.

"Rory! What are you…?"

I shoved the paper in his face, pointing to the article, "My freelance piece!"

He was still half asleep, so it understandably took him a second to process what he was looking at.

"That's great Ace, but…" He finally caught on, "This is The New York Times…"

I couldn't even say anything; I stood there smiling like a kid on Christmas morning.

"Rory, this is The New York Times."

"I'm in The New York Times!"

His smile was almost as big as mine as he stood up and kissed me. I couldn't believe that this was happening.

After a second he looked at me with a funny smile, then grabbed my hand and started to pull me towards the door, "Come on…"

"Where are we…?"

"Just put your shoes on; Let's go!"

I had no idea what he was up to, but he was so excited that I followed without hesitation. He rushed me out the door without even grabbing jackets, into the elevator, through the lobby, and down the street. It was freezing, but he was a man on a mission. He didn't stop until we were at the paper stand around the corner.

"Give me every copy of The Times that you've got."

"What the hell are you talking about?" The guy running the stand was clearly even more confused than me. This is all too incredible.

"All of your New York Times. I want them."

"That's my top seller, I've got regulars that are gonna come looking for…"

"I'll pay you double; just let me take them."

He took the cash that Logan handed him, Logan took one stack of papers, handed me another and before I knew it we were headed back to his building.

"You are ridiculous. I can't believe you paid him double for all of these."

"I can't believe he didn't want to sell them to me in the first place. Why does he care who buys them?"

"Why did you feel the need to buy every copy?"

He finally stopped, and the frantic energy from the last ten minutes settled.

"Ace, you have a byline in The New York Times."

I couldn't help but laugh, "I know, we did this bit already."

"This is huge. You're going to want copies. Your mom is going to want copies."

He was right. "I love you." He kissed me as the elevator doors opened.

We stepped off of the elevator just in time to come face to face with Mitchum, turning away from Logan's door. It was like we had run straight into a brick wall. All of the excitement from the early morning came to a screeching halt.

If the look on Logan's face last night had been priceless, the worth of Mitchum's face in that moment was insurmountable. He looked at Logan; He looked at me. For perhaps the first time in the time that I had known him, Mitchum Huntzberger was at a loss. I almost laughed. This morning couldn't get any more surreal.

"And here I thought that when you didn't answer you door that you might be at the office already."

"And I thought you were in Toronto."

I wasn't sure what to do; I was stuck in the middle of this standoff. This was absolutely not how I imagined Mitchum finding out about us being back together. I was waiting for some big shouting match to ensue, a classic Mitchum-Logan showdown, but they were both surprisingly calm.

After what seemed like forever Mitchum turned to me, "Rory…"

I tried to reflect his formal, but pointed tone, "Mitchum."

To my surprise, Logan spoke rather matter-of-factly, "Well, let's get this over with." And he led the trio of us inside.

My mind was racing as we made our way into the kitchen. This was not going to be pretty. It occurred to me that my standing there probably wasn't going to help this go smoothly.

"Maybe I should…"

"You should stay." Logan had a look on his face that I rarely saw when he was with his father. It wasn't anger or resentment, he was just… confident.

Mitchum was clearly had other things in mind, "Logan, I really think it would be best if…"

"Ace, do you want to stay?" Honestly, I wasn't sure. This could be really ugly.

"If you want me to."

"She's staying." He wasn't yelling or even all that aggressive… I just couldn't get over get over how composed he was. This was a totally different Logan.

"So, to what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Well your mother insisted I be home to hear some supposedly important news, so I thought I'd drop in at the board meeting this morning since I'm in town. I was unaware that you were hosting company."

"Well, I guess you're in for quite a bit of news today, then." Logan flashed me an amused look out of the corner of his eye, realizing the important news must be that Mitchum would soon be a grandfather. It was barely six o'clock and it was certainly already an interesting day.

Mitchum quizzically eyed the stacks of newspapers that we had put down on the counter. "I guess we all are."

Logan nodded to me, encouraging me to field this one. "I have a byline in The Times today. We were out to get extra copies."

"We?" Mitchum was still looking at Logan, "So this is a 'we'?"

I answered even though he was clearly not talking to me. "Yes. This is a 'we'. Logan and I are together."

"Logan?"

"Yes?"

"You and she are together?"

"Rory is standing right here, and very capably answered your question."

"Are you sure this is smart?"

"I'm not sure what you mean." Uh, oh. I could feel that the civility of the conversation was quickly crumbling.

"Well for one thing, if I recall correctly she rejected your proposal some time ago, after you quit and were cut off from the business. But imagine, now that you're successful, and on the verge of rejoining the largest publishing group on the East Coast, she has conveniently returned, and once again you are a 'we'."

"Dad…"

"And a piece in The Times, pretty impressive… of course it would be more impressive if she wasn't sleeping with a major influence in the industry…"

"Do not start this." He was hardly calm, but he was keeping himself together, Mitchum on the other hand was already becoming upset.

"Don't start what, Logan? Looking out for your best interest?"

"I mean do not start accusing her of anything. And stop talking about her as if she's not here. We are together; we are here. Besides, I learned a long time ago, that 'looking out for my best interest' is Huntzberger-speak for 'covering your company's ass'."

"Well my company's ass would need a lot less covering if you hadn't staggered your way through Yale with…"

"We both know that this is not about who I was in college."

"Well, it seems a lot like your college days, wasting your time with…"

"You should strongly consider how you want to finish that sentence." He was starting to lose his cool, but not in the reckless way he used to; he was genuinely angry.

"Logan..." This was getting to be too much.

"Rory, you don't deserve this."

"You've been here what, two weeks? I'm sure you've been out with those idiot friends of yours, and now you're back with her?"

"With Rory. Yes, I am back with Rory. I should have always been with Rory."

"Logan, this is about you..."

"That's bullshit and you know it."

"I didn't come here to fight, Logan. Hell, until she showed up I didn't know we had anything to fight about, but you have to be smart about girls like her…"

"Girls like her? You come to my home uninvited, and you give me crap about my friends? Fine. But I will not stand here and let you make accusations about the woman that I love. You have no right…"

"If you're going to be making irresponsible choices in your personal life, then how can I trust you in…"

"My personal life is none of your business. In fact the only time you seem to take any interest in my personal life is when you are concerned for your company, and seeing as I am not yet a part of your company, who I choose to share my life with should be of no consequence to you."

"You will be a part of this company and I will not stand by and let you repeat mistakes that will jeopardize its success."

"If you're so keen on remembering the past, let's not forget that it's you who pursued me for this merger. I am not some puppet of yours anymore. It is your company that is reliant on mine for its continued success, not the other way around. The next time you want to discuss my life, it might do you well to remember that as of now, no contracts have been signed."

I was dumbfounded. Was he really threatening to pull out of an unprecedented merger because of me? If he was as serious as his face and voice suggested, he might. I couldn't let him do this. He worked too hard to throw it away so that my feelings don't get hurt. Logan was a smart man, but his temper and his pride worked against him, especially when it came to his dad. This needed to stop now before there was no going back.

Mitchum started to open his mouth with some response, but I stepped between him and Logan, "Mitchum, you need to leave."

He looked me in the eye for the first time since we stood in the hallway, "Excuse me?"

Logan had stood up for me, now I needed to stand up for him, "You need to go, now. And as far as that board meeting goes, until those contracts are signed you are a guest there, and it would seem that you are an unwelcome one at that. I suggest you talk to your wife and head back to Toronto."

He looked at me with what I could only interpret as disbelief before he turned and left the kitchen. I followed him through the dining room to make sure he was actually leaving. In an uncharacteristically bold move, maybe bolstered by Logan's defense of me, I gave him a bitter parting remark as he walked out the door, "Say 'Hi' to Shira for me!"

Has this morning been real?

I turned around to head back to the kitchen but found Logan standing behind me, leaning against the doorway, with that bewildered look on his face, "'Say hi to Shira for me?'"

I kind of laughed, "Sorry… I got a little caught up in the moment…"

Now he was laughing. "Don't apologize. It was perfect." He held my head in his hands and kissed me. It was more of a kiss than I had been expecting and it took my breath away. He leaned his forehead to mine and we stood there for a second before he muttered, "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

"That he said those things; that he's such a jackass."

"Logan, it's not your fault that your father is a jackass. We knew that a long time ago, and we knew that him finding out about us was not going to be easy. This was maybe a little more eventful than I was expecting, but…" I was trying to lighten up what had ended up being a very serious argument, but to no avail.

"I should have seen it coming; it wasn't fair to you. I shouldn't have made you sit through it."

"And have me miss out on you defending my honor instead? No way." That got a smile out of him.

"Logan, it wasn't fair for him to say those things about you, either. You are not at all the same person you were in college…"

"Not at all? You sure about that? I think we revisited a few things from college last night…"

"Logan! You know what I mean; you are so much more mature and so capable. Even just the way you handled your dad this morning… Four years ago, given the same circumstances, that is not how this would have ended."

"Well I have to say, Ace, I really didn't expect it to end with you throwing my dad out of the apartment. That was…" He shook his head and smiled.

"Well I think I was possessed by the ghost of Tammy Wynette; you know, Stand By Your Man and all…"

"What would I do without you and Tammy?"

"Well, I have a feeling we're going to do a lot more of this standing by each other stuff for a while."

"I think I can manage that…" He followed up his promise with a kiss, but I needed to say something.

"Hey…"

He was a little disappointed I interrupted his follow up, "Yes?"

"I don't want you to make decisions because of me."

"Ace…"

"I mean it. You've worked so hard, and I heard what you said about him needing this merger, but you deserve it."

"Did you also hear what I said about who I choose to share my life with?"

"Logan…"

He realized how what he just said sounded to me and shook his head, "Don't worry, I'm not… I love you, Rory. I told you, I'm not walking away."

"I love you too, but… Just promise me you won't do anything rash."

He bit his bottom lip and looked at me. "Okay, I promise."

"Good." Now it was my turn to kiss him.

"How is it possible that it's not even seven a.m.?

"Better question… How have I not had any coffee yet?"

He sighed, knowing he should have expected as much, and filled the coffee maker.

"You know, we still haven't really celebrated your article…"

"It's exciting, but we don't actually have to celebrate."

"Are you kidding? You get ink in The New York Times and think we're not going to revel in it?"

I got a glance at the clock, "Well, reveling will have to wait… I have to get to work."

"Call in sick…"

"Don't you have a board meeting to get to?"

He groaned, "Do you always have to be so responsible?"

"Sorry chief, my yacht stealing days are over…"

He followed me back upstairs, "Oh so you can joke about it, but I can't?"

I pretended to think about it for a second, "Pretty much, yep."

By the time I was ready for work and got downstairs with my bag, he was dressed and pouring me a cup of coffee.

"You know, you can leave your stuff…"

"What?"

"You should leave your stuff here… it's not like you won't be back, right?"

"Is that standard three date practice?"

"Hey, it's been four dates, five if you count taking care of our lush friends… and if you count how many dates we've actually been on…"

"Okay, the stuff stays."

"Good… Besides it will be less stuff to steal when somebody breaks in to your apartment."

"I happen to like my apartment."

"And I happen to like you in one piece."

I looked myself up and down, "So far, so good… But I've got to run."

He handed me the cup of coffee and gave me a kiss. "I love you."

"Love you too."

As I opened the door he called me, "Hey Ace…"

I looked back at him, standing there smiling.

"…I've missed this."

I knew exactly what he meant… Being us. "Me too."

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

A/N - I really hope you guys enjoyed this update, particularly this chapter! I know it was a little shorter, but so much happened and I really wanted to get it to you. I have loved hearing about your predictions about what might come next... keep them coming! As always, follow, favorite, and comment! xx