I was walking up to the coffee cart and I could see Leslie's blonde hair as she stood in line. Good. For once I had news I excited to tell her about, without her having to drag it out of me.

"Hey!"

"Oh good, I tried to call you this morning."

"Sorry, my phone's dead. Anyway, I have some…"

She interrupted me excitedly, "You're never going to guess who called me last night."

For the last couple of weeks Leslie had been hanging on to every word of the Rory and Logan saga, and spending mornings pumping me for information on the latest details. For her to be this excited about something else was intriguing…

"Okay, shoot…"

She looked at me with her eyebrows raised, expecting me to draw the conclusion on my own. That meant I knew the person and…

"Oh, no…" I couldn't stop myself from laughing as I said it. I really should have seen this coming.

"What? I don't really remember giving him my number the other night, but I guess I did, called he called me and he was sweet..."

"This is Finn we're talking about, right? Tall guy, Australian accent, absolutely ridiculous?

"Yes, that Finn."

"Les, do you remember what I said the other night?"

"I know nothing but trouble, but so what? He's friends with Logan, I'm friends with you; It could be fun…"

I laughed, "It could also be a disaster… So what did sweet talking Finn have to say?"

"Not much, just that he had fun the other night; he was glad you brought me…"

"Laying it on thick, huh?"

"He's not a bad guy…"

"I know he's not a bad guy. I actually like him quite a lot, in spite of his eccentricities. But I also know that he's all about the chase..."

"So? I like the chase…"

"So did you…?"

She shook her head, but winked, "But that doesn't mean I won't…"

"Oh Lord, this is dangerous…"

"Come on, where's that adventurous Rory the boys were telling me about?"

I smiled to myself… the really dangerous part would be if this actually worked out. I knew Leslie could handle herself with pretty much any guy, and that Finn was exactly the kind of fun she liked to have, but the two of them together? Look out New York.

"So anyway… What was it that you were going to tell me?"

"A couple of things, actually. First…" I handed her one of the copies of The Times that I had taken with me, and then opened it up to the page where my article was printed.

"Holy shit, Rory! This is The New York Times! How could you not tell me that this was happening?"

"I know, I know, but I didn't actually know if it was happening until this morning. Dominic was supposed to call me last night, but my phone died and I didn't bring my charger…"

"To Logan's?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, to Logan's. Anyway, I knew they had picked up the rights, but there was like next to no chance that it would actually make print, so I didn't want to jinx it, but…"

"You're in The New York Times! Obviously Logan knows; have you told your mom yet?"

"No… I kind of want her to see it in person; I thought I'd send her a copy this morning. I'll see her this weekend, and we can repeat the 'Why didn't you tell me?' conversation then."

"This is amazing… like unbelievable."

"It's hardly the most unbelievable thing that's happened this morning."

She looked at her watch, "It's only eight-thirty; how much more could have happened already?"

"You have no idea…" I filled her in on the Mitchum showdown, which she punctuated by several gasps and choice expletives, as we made our way inside.

When I had finished she took a deep breath; she had gotten so worked up it was like she had been there, "Well, I guess the hard part's over then?"

I laughed, "You clearly do not know the Huntzbergers."

She mocked a snooty attitude, "Well, not all of us can rub elbows, or other body parts, with industry royalty."

"Leslie!"

"What?" She rightly made a face that suggested I should know to expect comments like that from her.

I rolled my eyes, "Could you at least keep it to a minimum at work?"

"Why? If people know you're doing a Huntzberger you could run this place."

"My point exactly... He's staying out of my career for as long as possible."

She shook her head but smiled, "Sometimes I really don't understand you…"

Before she headed off to her desk she added quietly, "Well at least we know one of those Huntzbergers is a good guy."

I smiled to myself as she walked away. Logan was definitely a good guy.

The first thing I did was package a copy of today's Times, with a sticky note informing what page to turn to, and sent it off to my mother. Next, I plugged in my phone, and in the meantime called Dominic.

"I take it you're in a good mood this morning, Gilmore."

"I am indeed."

"I was afraid you didn't get my message last night."

"I didn't actually, but it made for a rather exciting morning."

"I hope so; it's not all that often we get a piece pushed through at The Times. This is big, Gilmore… The agency wants to see more from you. I know you've got your gig at The Post, but get us what you can. And you should know, my buddy at The Times is interested in what else you've got, too."

"Really?"

"What did I tell you? This is big…"

I heard my name from down the hall, "Hey Gilmore!" It was Gerry.

"Dominic, I gotta run, but I'll get back to you."

I had no idea how Gerry was going to react to one of his staff running a story in the paper that was pretty much their biggest competition. But they wanted more… I tried to wipe the smile off of my face as I walked into Gerry's office.

"I guess congratulations are in order." He had an open copy of The Times on his desk.

"Thank you, sir." He didn't seem too upset so I let a small smile slip.

Gerry leaned back in his chair to look out his door, "Sherry! Get us some coffee in here."

I guess we were taking a meeting… Less than a minute later, Sherry was putting coffee on the desk and then backing out of the office.

"So… what does this mean?"

"What does this mean? I'm not sure what you…" I really had no idea where he was going with this.

"Come on, Gilmore… A byline in The Times and you expect me to believe you're not going to try and play this to your advantage around here?"

Oh. Given that I didn't think this would actually happen, I really hadn't given much thought to how it might change the dynamic around here…

"I really just wanted to get my article out. I wasn't planning on…"

"What are you working on now? That series on the space shuttle, right? You still want that?"

"Uh… Yea. I've got a good start on it."

"Alright, then… What are you thinking for your next pitch?"

"I've got a couple of leads, but nothing definite yet…"

"Well, I'll see what people have coming in. You can take your pick."

I was stunned. One big article and he wants to give me my choice of incoming leads? I made my way back to my desk in disbelief. People are going to hate me. My worries were interrupted by finding Sarah sitting on my desk with a box in her hands; generally she signed for packages and passed them off to peoples' desks in the mail cart.

"What's this about?"

"Well, a very handsome man in a suit delivered this to the front desk for you. I told him you were in a meeting, but he said he didn't want you to see him anyway, so naturally I'm intrigued."

Go figure, the receptionist was a gossip. I was grateful that Sarah was oblivious to who the 'very handsome man' had been, but I knew exactly who it was. He was already walking a fine line on his promise to keep our relationship out of the office...

She handed me the box, but remained planted on my desk, "Well, aren't you going to open it?"

I was hesitant to open it in front of Sarah, but I knew she wasn't going to move until she saw it, so I pulled the tape back and opened the flaps to find a large frame. The mat inside held the header from today's New York Times above my article; and there was a note on familiar stationary,

"Hope you're reveling, Ace. – L"

I knew Sarah was watching me, so I covered my face with my hand in an attempt to hide the uncontrollable smile that was on my face.

"Oh, fancy! So, who's 'L'?"

This was already going to be enough gossip silage; I didn't need to give her anymore details.

"He's none of your business." Leslie to the rescue. For as much as she loved hearing about my love life, she had a history of showing very little patience toward Sarah. It might have something to do with her having walked in on Leslie and some guy from graphics in the copy room at last year's Christmas party. Regardless, I was more than happy that she had intervened.

"So it's a he?"

"Don't you have a job to do?" Leslie gave Sarah a serious stink eye and waved her back to the front desk.

"Well, I'm certainly glad you're on my team."

"You're the one who said you didn't want a certain someone's name getting around the office."

"Hey, I never said I didn't appreciate the rescue... just remind me to stay on your good side."

"You got it." She gave a mock salute, before she leaned over my shoulder to look at the frame, "You gotta admit… the man's got style."

It really was a perfect gift. Between this, and his knight-in-shining-armor act with his dad this morning, he was winning major points today. "He always has had a thing about grand gestures…"

"You earned this one… Speaking of, how did Gerry react?"

I put the frame on my desk, leaning against the wall so it was sort of on display, "I think he was kind of groveling…" I was almost embarrassed to say it, but I didn't know what else to call it.

"He should be. He turned that piece down, and now you got it in the second most circulated papers in the country? Oh, you should demand a raise."

"Well, he's giving me my choice of incoming leads…"

"You keep this up and he's going to have to be offering a lot more than that."

She was off to get some actual work done, but I had some thanking to do; I texted Logan,

"I love it."

"I'm glad."

Before I could reply he messaged again,

"Come back to my place tonight and we'll continue the reveling."

He really was on a roll today. I agreed, interested to see what else he had in store.

I tried to get some work done the rest of the afternoon. My only other big interruption was my grandfather calling to congratulate me, excited to have something big to show off at the club, and wondering if I would be joining them for dinner tomorrow night to celebrate. I did my best to gracefully side step the question... I was just lucky I was talking to Richard and not Emily, or I never would have gotten away that easy.

I was packing up my desk for the evening when Leslie met up with me, "Heading to Lover-Boy's tonight?"

I smiled and nodded.

"Well good. I might be off having some fun of my own…" She had a very mischievous look on her face.

Good God. "Hey… don't say I didn't warn you!"

She pretended not to hear me and waved as she headed for the elevators.

A little while later I was walking into the lobby of Logan's building and Tommy, the same doorman that had been at the desk the other night, greeted me, "Ms. Gilmore…"I gave him a smile as I entered the elevator. Being back in this world was going to take some getting used to.

When I knocked, Logan answered almost immediately, "Hey you…" He proceeded to pull me inside with a long kiss.

"Well, hello to you too."

He smirked… always proud of himself when he could catch me off guard like that.

I noticed that the dining room table was set for two, and something smelled delicious as we walked into the kitchen. "Are you cooking?"

"It does happen in some peoples' kitchens occasionally."

"Well, who knew?"

He laughed, as he directed me to one of the stools at the counter, "Tell you what Julia Child, you sit, and I'll finish dinner."

"Are you just trying to keep me out of the way?"

"Yes... but I might trust you to slice the pie later."

"Pie?"

He laughed at my excitement. I love pie. "We're celebrating. Do you think I would forego pie?"

"I knew there was a reason I love you…"

He shook his head as he busied himself around the kitchen "So, what did your editor have to say about the article?"

"Well, I think he was impressed…" I told him about my being surprised by his reaction, and what Leslie said about him offering more than my choice of leads.

Logan put a glass of wine down in front of me, "She's right."

"It was one article…"

"For now… You're a great writer. You've always been a great writer, and with other papers interested in your work, big papers, he's going to be working to keep you happy. One article could turn into other papers trying to poach you from The Post."

I felt like this was exaggerating, "Logan… nobody's going to try and…"

"I'm serious, Ace. I've done it. Everybody does it. That's how this business works."

I was still convinced he was getting ahead of himself, so I directed the conversation toward him, "On the subject of things you've done, a little bird told me that someone was at my office today."

He raised his eyebrows with a sly smile, "You can't believe everything you hear… Those birdies are notorious liars."

"Logan, you promised."

"Oh come on, that girl doesn't know who I am… Besides, I told you that I'm going to have to start bragging about you eventually, hence the reveling." He winked and flashed his well-practiced, most charming smile, but I saw right through it.

"You are on notice, Mister…"

He took my warning as a challenge, "You know I like to live dangerously."

"Oh! Speaking of living dangerously, do you have any idea what our dear friend Finn is up to tonight?"

He looked up at me, clearly unaware of what the situation was, "No, but I have a feeling this isn't going to be good."

"I dunno… That really depends on how you feel about him seeing Leslie."

He almost spit out his wine when he started to laugh, "Uh, oh."

"My thoughts exactly… apparently in her stupor the other night Les decided it was a good idea to give him her number, and he called her."

"Called her?" He raised his eyebrows, obviously having the same idea I had when she told me.

"No… he literally called her. She said he was sweet."

"Sweet? Finn?"

"She's seeing him tonight…"

"Wow… well maybe they'll surprise us…"

I laughed, "That's kind of what I'm afraid of… The two of them together? That's asking for trouble."

"A justifiable concern… did you tell her that?"

"Of course not! For Leslie, that would basically be like issuing a challenge."

"They'll make quite a pair, then." He was obviously amused by this… I had to admit that this would be interesting… Definitely not a byproduct I would have expected from Logan and I reuniting.

"And what about us?" Admittedly I was toying with him, but I really was curious about what his answer might be.

"Us?" He looked surprised by my question.

"What kind of pair do we make?"

Now he was smiling, and he walked around the counter He punctuated each word with a kiss, "We…" Kiss. "..make..." Kiss. "…an..." Kiss. "…amazing..." Kiss. "…pair." Each kiss had grown a little deeper than the last, ending with one that literally took my breath away.

"Good answer."

"I wasn't finished yet…" He had a devilish smile on his face as took my hand and pulled me from my seat.

"What about your dinner?"

"Forget dinner."

"But you cooked…"

"Ace…" He rolled his eyes, but he still had that smile, "…am I always going to have to work this hard to get you into my bed?"

I hadn't really been trying to make things difficult for him, but it was kind of fun to be the one with the smug smile on my face for a change.

"Well, we are supposed to be celebrating…"

"Whatever you need to tell yourself…" He pulled me in for another deep kiss before I finally let him lead me upstairs.

For the second time that day I found myself wrapped in his arms, in his bed, and I was absolutely content… happy to be in his arms; happy to be loved; happy to be us.

"I think you're right…"

He was busy spreading little kisses along my shoulder, "About what?"

"About us making a pretty good pair."

I could feel his lips curl into a smile on my back, "I'm glad you've come around to the idea… but you know, I think we have always made a pretty good pair."

I thought about it for a second; I really want to be honest with him, "I think we're a better pair now… better than we would have been if..."

He ran his fingers through my hair and kissed the top of my head, "I know."

"Really?"

A reluctant smile crept across his face and he leaned his forehead into mine, "Yes… you win."

"I win?"

"You were right. About trying to take it slow…"

"I'm sorry… Can you repeat that?"

"You were right... If you had let me rush into this it wouldn't be the same." He was hating having to admit it, and I was loving it. I couldn't hide my smile.

"Well my plan has worked out pretty well…"

"And I'm sure Lorelei is proud…"

I raised one eyebrow, a little surprised by his postulation, "As a matter of fact she is, but…"

"Come on, Ace. I know better than to think you haven't been running every step of this by her. I know you."

"Oh you do, do you?"

"I do… just like I know you are dying for some of that pie."

I pulled out my most exaggerated excitement, "You do love me!"

He laughed, "Let's go..."

Downstairs he did indeed trust me to slice the pie. It was good pie.

"No better way to celebrate… or end an exceptionally long day."

As soon as I said it I regretted it. Like clockwork his cell phone rang."

"I think you spoke too soon, Ace…" He looked at the screen and his face was suddenly filled with dread, "…Way too soon."

He turned the phone so I could see the screen… Shira. We should have seen this coming after our encounter with Mitchum this morning.

"You have to answer it… avoiding her is only going to make it worse."

He sighed heavily, resigning himself to his only option, "Hello, Mother…"

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

A/N - Thank you for all the love you've been showing! Please keep it coming, definitely makes me keep wanting to write. How do you think their conversation with Shira is going to go? And going forward, how much excitement/drama are you guys willing to handle?

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