A/N - As promised, another chapter for this weekend, and I'm working on more, so stay tuned! And thank you for all of the love... Over 100 followers! So exciting!
I continued to struggle with my conundrum throughout the afternoon as I looked into a few of the stories. Just after four o'clock, Les stopped at my desk on her way to get coffee, clearly working hard to make it through the day after her night out with Finn.
"Too much fun last night?"
She smiled playfully, "No such thing… So, how ugly could dinner get tonight?"
"I don't know, but there is definitely the potential for some more drama."
She shook her head, "I don't get it… I mean, I get that it's kind of a shock for you to be back together, but it's the two of you dating, not them."
I eyed the clock, I still needed to change for dinner and I had less than a half an hour before Logan would be waiting downstairs. "How much work are you actually doing?"
"Honestly, little to none."
"Let's go."
I grabbed my bag and led her to the bathroom. Thankfully it was empty so I was free to try and explain the twisted world that I sometimes lived in while I got dressed.
"The fact that Logan and I are back together is only the beginning. Our families, his in particular, are part of this surreal world of money and society that makes the two of us dating a much bigger deal than it should be."
"I'm well aware of the money part of this. All those stories the guys were telling the other night, man I wish I had the money to buy myself out of trouble, and take off without a care in the world."
For a second an image of her and Finn popped into my head, "Be careful what you wish for…"
"Honestly, Rory, besides Logan's mom going all Real Housewives on you, what's the big deal?"
"Trust me, East Coast society is not Real Housewives. There are no knock down drag out fights or public shouting matches. It's all about keeping up appearances. Remember that Shira didn't know that I was listening to that phone call. In their world it's all smiles and playing nice to each other's faces and then spreading rumors behind their backs in the gossip mill at the country club."
"How WASP-y…"
"Very. It's a big contest… for instance did you know that there's a building named after me at Yale? It's supposed to be an honor, but it's also something major for my grandparents to show off. Everybody has old money and pedigrees; your name and who you are friends with are all important. It's all about reminding people that you belong and being associated with the who's who of society circles."
"You have your own building at Yale?"
"A planetarium… but that is so not the point."
"Right. So the two of you dating again… this is big."
"Really big… especially for Logan. See, everything that goes with the money and the status comes with a ton of attachments. For example, my grandparents put me through school, which opened a lot of doors and I appreciate it very much, but that's how we ended up sentenced to Friday night dinners since high school. But that is small potatoes compared to Logan's family. He spent his whole life paying for his privileged upbringing by being pushed around by his family, being groomed to join the family business."
"But he is… So why do they care so much if he's with you?"
"Shira's deal with me from the start is that I'm not good enough for them; a Huntzberger wife should do lunches and host tea and plan cocktail parties and be in the DAR and book clubs... all of the things that keep the family prevalent in society. Wanting a career does not fit that mold."
"But you just got back together. It's not like you're getting married right now… are you?"
"No, but that doesn't matter. Now it's about how I'm a risk to their company and Logan's reputation to be seen with a girl like me… about how it will look for people to see us back together. And once people know that we're together again all hell will break loose. There will be rumors about why I turned him down before, and why he left, and what happened to bring us back… It's going to be a big, complicated mess."
"Damn… Way better than Real Housewives."
I glared at her, but I knew she was trying to smooth out the rather harsh tone this conversation had taken.
"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to unloaded all of that on you… It's kind of been bottling up, you know? I just hate that it's so complicated, that there's so much pressure..."
"I get it. I mean as much as I can grasp I guess; Bowie and Mercury would probably really get it."
"Funny." I checked my watch, 4:33. "Crap, I've got to get downstairs."
"I'll grab my stuff and come with. A good excuse to continue to waste my day."
We hurried downstairs and through the lobby. Sure enough, Logan was waiting in his Porsche, with a slightly perturbed look on his face.
"Come on, Ace… We don't need to give the firing squad extra ammo."
"I know, I'm sorry…" I climbed in the car and tried to get my things situated, easier said than done in a sports car.
Leslie leaned into the open window, "Nice ride, Huntzberger."
He laughed, "Leslie… I hear you had a good time last night."
She raised her eyebrows, "I always have a good time. I'm hoping to have one again tonight."
"Yea, well don't do anything Ace wouldn't do."
"Then I'd have no fun at all."
"I guess you don't know her as well as you think you do then..." He winked suggestively enough for me to hide my face in my hands.
These two had really found a dynamic with their sarcasm and dirty jokes. I was glad they were getting along, even if it was sometimes at my own expense, "Are you done?"
"Sorry, you're right; that was ungentlemanly of me…" He inflated his apology and continued in an overly formal tone, "Rory is very respectable and I love her very much."
She feigned disgust, "Ugh, you guys are too much with this perfect couple crap."
He smirked, "That's the idea…"
Leslie rolled her eyes, "Get out of here… and good luck!"
I was finally settled, so we did indeed get out of there. I was really glad that Logan and Leslie were getting along. At least that's one thing in my life that's easy.
On the drive I filled Logan in on my struggle at work, if you could call having too many options a struggle. He empathized with my challenge, but I could tell that he thought I should be going for big things. Bigger than The Post.
"You can still do both. Gerry can't fire you for working outside; it's in your contract. I still think he's going to play ball to keep you on staff anyway. Besides, if you've got a stack of leads in front of you, what's keeping you from pursuing more than one?"
"I don't know, maybe the fact that I could be taking them from my coworkers. I feel like I'm stealing them as it is, but at least I'm still putting them in their paper."
"You realized that this is not a group project... Just because they suggested something doesn't mean they get credit for your work, Ace. If you find something you want to write about, do it. And if you happen to want to push it somewhere else that's your prerogative; you've earned that."
"I feel like I'll be walking a very fine line on the edge of journalistic integrity."
"Rory, these are just ideas, not even fully developed ideas. You're not taking somebody else's work. And as far as integrity goes, you will do more justice to any story than the next guy, so really you'd be increasing the integrity of the business."
He wants big things for me; I have to give him credit for that. "Are you trying to get me poached from The Post?"
He looked at me through the corner of his eye as he drove and smiled, "Only if you want to be."
I shook my head. Always a troublemaker.
"Hey, I know you like your job, and you've worked your way up there, but you shouldn't ignore other opportunities. If you want to stay at The Post that's great, and other interest in you will only make them value you more, so you can't really lose."
He really does know how to work this industry. Even if I won't let him use his influence to affect my career, it was nice to have him on my side.
"So what about you? Have you had to deal with Mitchum yet?"
He sighed. "I have a meeting with him first thing Monday morning. We're supposed to finalize contracts so they're ready to be signed as soon as we officially launch in New York. Speaking of which…" He hesitated.
"What?"
"I have to be in California for most of next week… Have to make sure we have everything structured to run on its own with the staff we have out there, and make the final move of our major operations…"
"…Get all the ducks in a row?"
"Yea." He looked uncomfortable. I already knew that business trips and long hours are par for the course, so I wasn't sure why he seemed concerned having to tell me about it.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I guess."
"Logan…"
He hesitated again. "I don't know… We're finally where we are supposed to be, but dealing with everything else, and… leaving you to go to California just seems…"
He feels guilty. This was not going to work if he's going to feel guilty every time he has to work in California.
"You are not leaving me. You are going to take care of your company. You have responsibilities; I get it… you're a busy man." I hoped I wasn't hitting a nerve by referencing that dramatic lunch that started all of this, but I couldn't help it.
He finally smiled a little, "So you're okay with this?"
"Of course. I'm never going to love you being away, but we've done this before. Business trips are part of the deal being with a captain of industry… I still need to find you a hat, by the way. But the point is, it's inevitable, so we'll handle it… I'll miss you, but we'll handle it."
He finally managed a real smile, and he took my hand. "You are something else, Ace."
"Only because I love you." I was stealing his line, but it seemed appropriate.
He kissed my hand, "I love you too."
We lightened the mood for the rest of the drive, hypothesizing about how this whole Leslie and Finn thing would play out. Unfortunately, as we pulled in the Gilmore's driveway, we returned to a more somber temperament. I was really hoping that Mom and Luke would already be here for some moral support, but no such luck.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Rory." He gave me a look, reminding me that it had to be done.
I took a deep breath trying to prepare myself, "Okay, let's go."
We stood in front of the door for a minute and I started at the doorbell.
"Ready?"
"Ready as I'm ever going to be." One more deep breath and I rang the bell.
The door flew open and my grandmother was standing on the other side with a smile on her face, "There's our intrepid reporter! And Logan, nice to see you, come in..."
She welcomed us in with hugs and handed our coats to the maid, but I was pretty much rooted where I stood, wondering if I were dreaming.
Logan pulled himself together first, "Emily, lovely to see you, as always."
"Well don't just stand there, Rory, your grandfather is in the living room..." She whispered behind her hand as she directed me out of the foyer, "I'll be just a minute." She gestured to the maid, signaling that she was going to check up on her.
Is this really happening? It was like she had totally forgotten the last four years; like it was completely normal for us to show up to dinner together.
I gave Logan a dumbfounded look as we walked toward the living room. He was clearly as surprised as I was but shrugged his shoulders and whispered, "Unless we're walking in to a death trap, I say we don't ask questions."
It made me laugh a little and he put his hand on my back to reassure me as we walked into the living room to face Richard.
"Rory! Logan!"
"Hi Grandpa." I had taken what Logan said to heart about not asking questions, for now. If I was lucky, my mom would be just as weirded-out as I was and ask about it first.
"Come, come. Sit down. Let me see… a martini with a twist and a scotch neat, correct?"
"Yes sir, thank you."
He handed us our drinks and we each immediately took a sip.
"You should know Rory, that I've already made sure that everyone at the club has seen your article in The Times…"
"He practically left a copy on every tee on the golf course." Emily had found her way back into the living room.
"Oh please Emily, you say that as if you didn't pass it around to all of the ladies at the DAR meeting yesterday."
"And they were very impressed that one of our own has made such a big accomplishment. You should be proud, Rory."
"Thank you, I am. It's very exciting."
"Did you do anything to celebrate?"
"Uhm, a little… and Logan had the article framed for me."
My grandfather looked to Logan as if he was proud of him, "A good man."
This is crazy, but better than the alternative I guess. Logan really was a good man for taking this all in stride. "You could practically call him Charlie Brown."
"Hey, you did all the work, Ace. I'm just a humble supporter." He put his hand on my knee.
I caught a glimpse of my grandmother, practically beaming at the little moment we had just had, but conveniently the doorbell rang and interrupted whatever train of thought she was having. Thank God.
Emily let the maid answer the door this time, and as the rest of my family came inside I could see a look of utter surprise on the faces of Luke and my mother when they saw the four of us sharing drinks and smiling like old times.
Luke had to come to first when Landon, who he had been holding, wanted to make a break for it towards Grandpa, "Hey, everyone…"
Emily stood up, "Oh good you're here; we were just about to toast to Rory's success."
Since Richard was busy balancing his favorite grandson in one arm and his drink in his other hand, Grandma got drinks for Mom and Luke.
Grandpa raised his glass first, "To Rory…"
"And her humble supporters" She gave Logan a knowing look; he barely held back a startled laugh and I was found myself completely wide eyed hearing my grandmother's sly addition to the toast. We were both in disbelief. What is happening here?
Mom had taken part in the toast but hadn't stopped assessing the situation since she walked in the door. I saw her eyes go from her mother, who still had a smile on her face, to me and Logan as we returned to our seats, next to each other on the loveseat across from her.
"I hope the two of you have had a chance to read the article. I've got a copy in my study."
Luke glanced at my mom, who was clearly still getting a grasp on what was playing out in front of her, so he replied to Grandpa, "Yes, we have. Rory sent us one…"
Logan responded to Luke, "And we have the extras you asked for in the car."
"Oh good, you have extra copies! We would love one or two if you can spare them."
"Yea, Grandma, we have a ton… Logan bought every copy he could find."
She was beaming at us again, "Of course he did. He's proud."
Logan gave me another sideways glance and a smile, "Very."
"I'm sorry…" My mother had finally come out of her haze of confusion and interrupted the conversation at hand, "but did we take a wrong turn and end up in Stepford?"
"Lorelei, what are you talking about. Honestly, you've only been here five minutes and you've already started with the sarcasm."
Oh no. "Mom…" I was counting on her to get to the bottom of this eventually, but I was hoping for something a little more subtle. I tried to give her a not now look, but it was no use… no stopping her now.
"I'm talking about this… this one big happy family thing."
"Is there something wrong with being happy? We are celebrating your daughter's achievement."
This really is like old times. I only wish that this particular mother-daughter verbal tennis match wasn't revolving around us.
"And Logan being a proud boyfriend… not that I'm opposed to it, I'm glad he's proud, but… I'm just a little confused here…"
Grandpa stepped in with a warning, "Lorelai…" but Emily wasn't finished.
"What are you confused about, Lorelai?"
"I'm just wondering if I missed the part where you freak out about the two of them being here, and being together after everything…"
"Would you like us to 'freak out'?"
"No… I guess not, but…"
"Luke doesn't seem to be 'freaking out' and not that it means anything to Landon, but he seems perfectly content. You must have known what was going on, and are more concerned with me than them, so why should I be 'freaking out'?"
"Gee, I don't know… because you're Emily Gilmore? You freak out about things like un-pressed napkins…"
"Well is it really so hard to set a proper table?"
"Linens are not the point, Mom."
Their voices had escalated during their squabble, but Emily paused and composed herself.
"Look, if this is what makes them happy, which it certainly seems to, then so be it. They are adults, and if they are really going to make something of this, then whatever concerns we may have had really won't matter at all. If they can put the past behind them, so can we. Let's not pretend that they won't be up against other obstacles, but we don't need to be one of them."
She had clearly given this a lot of thought, and we all knew what she meant by other obstacles. There were a few seconds of anxious silence when we all let her little speech set in.
Grandpa cleared his throat, "So, can I freshen up anyone's drink."
"Yes." Luke, Logan and I all responded in unison, ready to dissipate the tension.
Mom on the other hand was not quite satisfied yet. She leaned into her mother, "So this is just no big deal?"
Luke and Richard were asking Logan about moving back to New York, but I was more interested in eavesdropping on Mom and Grandma's whispered aside.
"Of course it's a big deal."
"Then why are you so unconcerned about it?"
"Lorelei, I am not unconcerned. Was I surprised to hear that Rory was bringing him tonight? Yes. Am I apprehensive about how this will play out? Of course. But your father and I made the mistake of forcing our way into your relationships before, and it resulted in losing you and Rory for far too long. We aren't going to repeat that mistake with them. Besides, they're going to need all the support they can get."
This revelation had my mom more surprised than ever, and I had to admit that I was in that boat with her. Emily was not only accepting, but backing us, no questions asked. I think I actually felt hell freezing over.
The rest of the night was unbelievably pleasant. Grandpa inquired about how Logan's work was going, congratulating him on his success. Logan avoided the topic of the merger for now, but was appropriately gracious.
I updated everyone on the residual effects of my Times article on the dynamic at The Post. They all agreed with Logan, that I should take full advantage of the situation.
Thankfully the topic of our relationship had been put to rest for the evening. No discussion of how it came to be, or what we were planning for the future, which was especially good since he and I have not directly broached that subject ourselves. When we were leaving for the night I was still in disbelief of how smoothly it had gone.
Logan went out to the car to get the extra copies of the paper, Grandma was fawning over Landon, who was on the verge of falling asleep, and for the first time that evening I had a chance to talk to Grandpa, just the two of us.
"This is what you want? You're happy?"
I smiled, and nodded earnestly.
"And he's treating you well?"
"Very."
"Well alright then." He was much less dramatic about his feelings on the subject than Grandma, but I was very comforted by his concern.
After Logan came back with the papers, we said our goodbyes and walked out with Mom and Luke.
"Well, that was bizarre." I think Mom might have actually been a little jealous of Grandma's acceptance.
"I'm not complaining." I had nothing to complain about. My whole family is okay with this. I never would have imagined it.
Landon was falling asleep on Luke's shoulder. "Well, I think we've had enough excitement for one night." He hugged me with his free arm, and held out his hand to Logan.
"Logan…"
"Luke…" Logan returned the gesture and they shook hands with a smile. They were good. Another thing that I was still a little baffled by, but wasn't going to complain about.
I said goodnight to Landon and we walked to the car. Mom followed us so she could get her extra copies of the paper.
"Well, I guess you're in the clear."
Logan laughed, "I wouldn't exactly say that…"
Mom turned and looked at him very seriously. He wasn't expecting it, but he quickly focused.
"You're in this, right? You're not going to let her go through the ringer with your parents, and then…"
"Lorelai…"
"…she doesn't deserve…"
"I'm in this. We are in this." He smiled, "We could go get some pie, if it would make you feel better…"
She shook her head, "You better watch it, kid. I'm serious about her…"
He was done joking around, "So am I."
She took a deep breath. I think she trusted him; she trusted that I trusted him, anyway. "Okay."
Mom got her papers and we said our goodbyes before heading our separate ways. Even with all of the support she gave me while I was figuring this out I knew she was probably the most worried of anyone, but for different reasons.
When Logan got in the car I gave him a well-deserved kiss.
"What was that for?"
"You earned it."
He accepted my reasoning with a smile. When we were getting close to the city he asked, "So, can I talk you into coming home with me, or do I need to make sure you make it into that citadel of yours?"
"You really hate that apartment."
"I hate that you live in that apartment."
"I have managed to live there for almost three years with no major incidents; I think you can relax."
"Three years in that neighborhood with no incidents? You're coming due for something, Ace."
"If I come home with you tonight will you give it a rest?"
He smirked, "For now."
We got back to his place and I practically collapsed on the bed. The last couple of days had been exhausting, but I hadn't noticed how tired I actually was until that minute.
He laughed at me, "Worn out, Ace?"
"Ugh. I feel like we're living out The Cossacks."
He threw a pair of sweatpants at me, "Alright Tolstoy, let's go to bed."
I climbed into bed, he kissed my forehead before reminding me that he loves me, and I fell into the best sleep I'd had in weeks.
When I woke up the next morning Logan was already out of bed and I could smell coffee brewing downstairs. I followed the pleasant aroma to find him sitting at the counter reading the paper.
"Two bylines in one week… Watch out or Mitchum's going to have to swallow his pride and get in line to poach you himself."
The first in my space shuttle series made The Post this morning. I kissed him on my way to pour myself a cup of coffee and mused, "Yea, that's going to happen… but wouldn't that would be great; working at a paper, owned by my boyfriend's father, who happens to be married to the person who quite possible dislikes me more than anyone on the planet."
"Oh what tangled webs we weave."
"…All in the name of journalism."
"Hey, I have to have lunch with the editors of this paper we've been working on about their launch tomorrow. I was about to hop in the shower… care to join me?"
"Working blue this early?"
"I've got places to be later."
My phone rang, interrupting our suggestive banter. It was Dominic.
"Sorry, mister. I've got to take this."
He stomped his way up the stairs, making sure I knew how disappointed he was, as I answered the phone.
"Gilmore, I know it's Saturday, but I've got a proposition for you…"
** I do not own any characters or content related to Gilmore Girls or any other entities mentioned. **
A/N - Well, what do you think about the Gilmores? What's next for Logan and Rory?
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