A/N - I'm glad so many of you are excited with the direction of the story! I hope you're ready for a little sub-plot action coming up in this chapter. I don't want to detract from the characters we've been revolving around, but I thought this might be fun... Here goes!

I had decided before I was even home that night not to bring up the ring to Logan. He would have said something if he wanted to talk about it, right? Did I honestly think, after everything that he said about the time we were apart, that he had held onto it out of resentment? Maybe at first, but probably not now… I hope not…

I thought about what Leslie asked earlier, what I would say if he asked me again, practically all night. I don't know why her question was bugging me so much; we're together, I'm moving in with him, all of the important things are the way they should be. Of course I would…

That's when it hit me. Her question was bugging me because coming up with the answer didn't bother me at all. I knew that if I said it out loud it wouldn't make any sense, but… I had agonized about what to say the first time around. I thought about it again and again from every angle and went back and forth. But now I just knew. It was very unlike me to, so naturally it seemed crazy to just know, to not worry or have to think about it.

That didn't mean I was going to be sitting around waiting for him to propose or anything… In fact I pushed it as far back in my mind as I could manage. One step at a time, Gilmore. I was still just getting used to living together again.

At work Wednesday I had the very uncomfortable feeling that Gerry was keeping a close eye on me; like he was taking note of everything I was working on. Logan called me in the middle of the day, but I let it go to voicemail. I had just promised Gerry that there would be no Huntzberger interruptions, even if Logan was a welcome one for me.

I made calls to NASA looking for final thoughts about what will follow this launch, I narrowed down my options for my next Post piece, the topic of which I was hoping to make as removed from politics as I could, and thanks to a well-placed latte I made a new friend down in archives who helped me dig up what The Post had run in the past about Obama's stance on education. All in all, a pretty productive day.

A little before five my office line rang, and when I answered it was Sarah, "Rory, a woman just left a message for you. I was told to repeat it exactly as I heard it, 'The second coming has arrived' I assume you know what that means."

I rolled my eyes, of course. She could have called me directly, or just sent a text message, but no. Leave it to my mother to involve a third party to orchestrate a dramatic arrival. "Thanks Sarah, I've got it."

I packed up my stuff, and for good measure stopped by Gerry's office before I was ready to leave. I was glad to see that he was already gone for the night, but I left word with Sherry to let me know if he needed anything from me. A little brown nosing never hurt.

"Hey! Can I tag along or is this strictly a mother-daughter thing?"

I turned around and found Leslie following behind me into the elevator.

"Well, you'll have to take it up with her, but I think your outlook is good."

She and my mom had hit it off from the start. I knew they would, they are practically the same person. As I anticipated my mom greeted us from where she sat in Luke's truck at the curb downstairs, and upon Leslie's request to join the fun my mother replied, "Grab me a coffee from that cart and you're on."

Coffee, the true way to a woman's heart.

Amazingly, we found a parking spot across the street from my building, a practically unheard of feat, and after my mother equating climbing the four flights of stairs to scaling Everest we made it inside.

"Well, it seems like you girls got… absolutely nothing done yesterday."

To be fair, it did look like that. "Hey, we moved my books over."

"Oh good, the heavy lifting's done then."

Leslie chimed in, "Your shoes are still here…"

"Hey, you cannot judge my shoe collection until you've seen my mother's closet."

"Passing on addictions to caffeine and footwear, my work as a mother is done."

"Yes, you're practically Carol Brady."

"Do you think we could get Luke to wear those groovy wide collared shirts that Robert Reed wore?"

"With the patterned bell-bottoms?"

"Naturally. It would just look silly otherwise. Maybe we could even ditch the baseball cap for the permed mini-fro…"

"Probably only if you're willing to go with the mullet-flip thing Florence Henderson had going on…"

"Ugh. You drive a hard bargain, my friend."

"Well, I know he married you, but Luke's got to draw a line in the sand at some point."

"How does he keep up with the two of you?"

"It does help that we live in separate states."

"Alright girls, enough banter… I can't believe those words came out of my mouth, but we've got some serious work to do."

We spent the next couple of hours packing up most of my life… leaving only the essentials for the rest of the week. We were pretty much surrounded by boxes by the time we gave in to hunger. Having been underwhelmed by the Thai food the other night, we opted for the tried and true Chinese food from the restaurant I had taken Logan to on our first 'date'.

After a couple of trips to the truck we decided it was time to call in reinforcements, and Leslie was more than happy to jump at the chance to call Finn and have him and Colin meet us at Logan's to help unload all of this.

We carried one last round of boxes to the truck before we were on our way over to Logan's. As arranged, Colin and Finn were waiting in the underground garage.

"Well if it isn't Vincent and Jules."

"At your service, Ms. Gilmore."

"Mom, you remember Finn and Colin…"

"How could I forget?" Their first encounter had been at the police station the night Logan and I stole the yacht, so she had nothing but fond memories of the two of them… It didn't help that they had unwittingly hit on her at the time.

Ever a couple of Lotharios in gentleman's clothing, they bowed and Colin took her hand, "Lorelai, looking lovely as always…"

"Down boys, I'm a married woman now…"

"And we have work to do." This whole Colin checking out my mom thing was still very weird.

"Right, and work we shall… what's first?"

We happily bestowed the boxes of shoes upon them while we tackled lighter boxes. In just a couple of trips we had everything upstairs, which was just as well since, as Mom pointed out it was getting late.

"Well kids, I hate to pull the 'I've got a long drive home' card, but I've got a long drive home… I'm going to call it a night." She looked at me, "You staying here tonight, kid or you want a ride back?"

"I'll take the ride." I had my heart set on at least on more night in my hard-earned apartment.

"Then I guess we're out of here too…" Leslie failed at trying to subtly imply that she would be leaving with someone other than who she arrived with as she and Finn headed towards the door.

"And that's my cue to get back to my lonely, dull existence…"

"Oh, don't fret Colin… I'm sure there's another girl out there for you to fall for hard and fast."

"Here's hoping… maybe she can get me a more fascinating job."

Finn held the elevator doors for us, "You know Colin, I really don't see what's stopping you from quitting the job that you so clearly despise... you're pretty much wasting that trust fund of yours."

"It's the principle of the matter… Besides, now that I've got work experience, if I leave the job I have, dear old Dad going to expect me to come work for him."

"Oh the tortured lives of the over privileged… The things I missed out on when I chose the life of a runaway teen mother."

"Honestly Lorelai, you should have stuck around… Think of all the fun Rory could have had growing up with friends like us."

I rolled my eyes at Finn, "Thank you for not sticking around."

"Well, mother knows best."

We got to the garage and Mom said her goodbyes.

She hugged Leslie, "Les, I'm sure I'll see you soon…" and then turned to Colin and Finn, who each had their arms outstretched waiting for their turn. It never came, "Boys… don't be too stupid."

I laughed at their dramatic disappointment as we got into the truck. "Come on, Mom… with friends like that, who needs MTV?"

"With friends like that, who would want MTV?"

"Oh lay off, they're funny, and thus far have been decidedly less debaucherous since returning to my life… Not entirely of course, but then they wouldn't be them. Plus there's the whole thing with Les and Finn."

"So, the two of them are still a thing?"

"It would seem that way. She insists that they are just 'having fun' but I don't know… This is the most sequential 'fun' I've seen either of them have…"

"You and Logan started out as just 'fun'. Of course there was that whole Founder's Day Punch incident that kind of a catalyst towards monogamy…"

"Ah yes… A day I look back on with great pride."

"As you should; I added it to your baby book and everything."

"Gee thanks…" We had pulled up to my building, but had no luck with parking this time.

"So, I've got to pick up Landon from Sookie's, but do you need me to make a return trip to handle the furniture?"

"I don't think so…"

"You going to sell it or something?"

"No… it can stay for now. My lease actually isn't up until June, so I figure I can leave it all here."

"So you're holding onto your stuff in case things don't work out?"

"No…" I looked up to where my apartment was on the fourth floor, "I guess I'm just a little bummed is all. Not about moving in with Logan, but I worked so hard to have a life in New York, to make it on my own. It's just kind of the end of an era."

She shrugged, but looked hopeful, "Or the beginning of one…"

I was kind of surprised, given her cautious attitude toward reuniting with Logan in the first place, but I guess he had Huntzbergered her too. "Thanks, Mom."

"Anytime, kid. Text me when you get upstairs."

"Will do. Hug Landon for me."

"Done."

I did as I was told and let her know when I got in, and Logan too since I figured he would appreciate it. I sat on the couch and looked at my mostly empty apartment. I ruminated on what my mom had said and it occurred to me about it being the beginning of an era instead of the end of one. It really was a better way to look at it.

Sure, I had struggled, especially in the beginning to make a life here, but I had made it happen, and I shouldn't be any less proud of how far I had come because I was moving into an apartment that I had no financial responsibility to. In fact, I had started to think about how proud I, or moreover we should be about how far we had come, when I got a reply from Logan.

"Glad you're home safe. I'm still in a meeting and I got roped into meeting a client for drinks right after or I would call."

I guess the day never ends in the big leagues of publishing. No wonder his apartment looks like he's never there…

"Don't worry about it. Have fun?" I hope he was enjoying it at least.

"Maybe if you were here. I love you."

"Love you too."

"Night, Ace."

Realizing how busy he actually is only made me more confident about agreeing to move in. If we ended up in the same place at the end of the day, regardless of how long it has been, it would be okay. Besides, I had plenty of my own work to do, so it's not like I would be sitting around pining for him all the time.

The inkling I had about Gerry keeping a watchful eye on me from the day before was pretty much a certainty when I got to work Thursday morning. He passed by my desk several times over the course of the morning, never actually stopping, but always glancing as if he was trying to gauge what I was working on. My article for the week was already submitted, I had guaranteed him one more story in my series, and our next pitch meeting wasn't until Monday, so he shouldn't be expecting anything from me immediately. It was definitely a little unnerving.

Thankfully I had conference call with a NASA spokesperson that afternoon to discuss the likelihood of the Space Shuttle Program being extended again, which would not only determine the direction of my last instalment, but also keep me occupied and out from under Gerry's thumb.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I found out that Gerry had meetings of his own all afternoon, and once I got back to my desk I discovered that I was even luckier than I thought. My new friend down in archives had emailed me copies of all reports done on Obamas education plan since he announced his candidacy. It wasn't that I hadn't been doing research on my own, but being able to see how The Post had reported on it originally would give me an idea of how deep I would need to go if I was going to have a chance of impressing The Times.

I went to Logan's after work. On the way, it occurred to me that I could probably stop referring to it as Logan's, but since I had spent the last three hours poring over back articles, I was really in the mood to do something mindless, like unpack.

I dragged several boxes of shoes and clothes upstairs, turned the music up too loud and dove in. A couple of hours later I could hear my phone vibrating, but I had no idea where it was. I had managed to surround myself in a labyrinth of boxes, piles of shoes and stacks of clothes. I tracked down the buzzing just in time. Paris?

I hadn't talked to Paris in over a month, not that it was unusual, but it occurred to me before I answered that of any of my friends, I would get the most crap from her about being back with Logan. Thankfully, being Paris, she had specific intentions with her call and got right to it.

"Hey Paris, what's going…"

"Rory I need a favor."

Uh, oh. "What kind of favor?"

"I need you to come to Boston."

"Okay…"

"This weekend."

"This weekend?" Logan's supposed to be back on Sunday, and he's supposed to be coming home to me. "Paris, I don't…"

"The coming to Boston part isn't actually the favor… if transportation is an issue I can make arrangements for you."

"I don't need transportation arrangements, Paris. But what exactly is the favor?" It wasn't like her to drag things out like this.

"I need you to be my Maid of Honor."

"What?"

"Well it's you, Nanny, which would just be kind of sad, or Doyle's insufferable sister. I'm certainly not going to have any of these bimbettes from Med School…"

"You're getting married?"

"I know what you're thinking… It's an antiquated institution designed to reinforce a man's sense of ownership and power in a relationship..." Not at all what I was thinking, but a perfectly Paris ideology, "… But as long as I'm still a student, Doyle gets a tax break. Plus it will make him eligible for the undoubtedly better health benefits I will have when I get a job…"

I could not believe they were getting married. "So you're saying this is purely a means to an end?"

"Exactly. The concept of marriage is dead anyway, the majority of them are a complete sham, but this way we each benefit, thus continuing the symbiotic nature of our relationship."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course… And it's got nothing to do with the fact that you love each other, or want to be married?"

"Oh Doyle has been asking me for years. I've only agreed now because we're running out of time where our income discrepancies will work to our advantage. The fact that it will be getting him off my back is only a peripheral benefit."

"Always the romantic Paris…"

"Yea, yea… are you coming or not?"

"When is the wedding?"

"I have an overnight clinical shift Friday and Doyle has a deadline Saturday, so we're squeezing it in on Sunday. Nothing fancy, we got a Justice of the Peace, an old friend of my father's, to agree to meet us at the courthouse in the afternoon. His family is dragging us to dinner after, but it's not mandatory for you."

Logan would be disappointed if I wasn't home, but I couldn't miss this business arrangement disguised as a wedding. "Okay."

"You'll be there?"

"With bells on."

"Good. Three o'clock… and try to wear something green. If you don't have anything don't worry about it, but that's what color tie Doyle is wearing. Oh and bring your mother if you can."

"Are your parents still on the lam?"

"Why do you think I'm not willing to take shortcuts with the IRS?"

"Poor Paris, cornered into marrying her college sweetheart as a way to work the federal tax system."

"Well it's a better plan than Wesley Snipes had."

"Very true."

"Hey speaking of college paramours…"

Oh boy. What with her big news I thought I'd get out of this one…

"…Doyle tells me the Ghost-of-Media-Moguls-Past is setting up shop in your neck of the woods."

"Yea, I've heard something about that."

"Well journalism might be a compacted industry, but it's New York so you'll probably be able to avoid any disastrous encounters."

I scrunched up my face as I looked around at all my belongings spread around his apartment, and hesitantly responded, "I wouldn't exactly say disastrous…"

"You've seen him?"

"Yea, we kind of ran into each other right after he got into town…"

"Did you sleep with him?" Her voice was suddenly very loud and her tone was decidedly accusatory.

"No... Well, not that night." I had to tell her eventually.

"Oh my God. You're not seeing him again, are you? You can't be serious. Have you thought about what this could do to your career?"

"Paris…" Of course work is what she's worried about.

"People are going to treat you differently you know. They're going to think you're trying to sleep your way to the top. Or worse, they're going to hand you the good stuff to get to him and you won't have to work for any of it."

Only Paris would think that getting opportunities would be a downside, not that I was going to take them, but it still made me laugh.

"This isn't funny Rory. Oh God. That's not how you got that piece in The Times is it?"

"No! And thanks a lot for that vote of confidence."

"Well, it's not a hard conclusion to jump to… It was actually a good piece by the way."

"Thanks… Besides, Mitchum already beat you to that particular hurdle."

"You've talked to Mitchum? So this is serious… I've got to say I did not see this coming"

"Neither did I, but yea… it's serious."

She took a breath and her demeanor had calmed considerably but she was definitely analyzing the situation, "How serious are we talking here?".

"Serious as in… I'm unpacking my stuff at his apartment."

"You're living together? How did this happen? I can't have been more than like a month… And after the way things ended before…" She was definitely having a hard time wrapping her mind around this one.

"Well, our first few encounters weren't disastrous as you put it, but they were certainly… eventful. A lot of awkward silences, followed very quickly by some very honest confessions… At the beginning it was pretty much like the Road Runner had dropped anvil of emotional baggage on my head, but… I don't know… Things are different than before; different than I would have expected them to be."

"Well I hope so. I assume, given his success, that he's done gallivanting around like a drunken imbecile."

I smiled. He definitely had some of the old Logan in there somewhere, but he was much more responsible about it these days. "For the most part."

"He's not buying your affections is he? Or just wiling you with his charm?"

"Again, thanks for the faith in my character. I might reconsider this whole Maid of Honor thing."

"I'm sorry but I can't abide by this relationship if you aren't covering all of your bases."

"There covered, Paris. He's good, I'm good, work is good, his family is a pain in the ass, but we're dealing with it. We're good."

She thought about it for a few seconds, "Fine, but if he puts one toe out of line…"

"Don't worry. You're going to have to take a number on that one."

"Good… I'll see you Sunday?"

"See you Sunday."

As always, it was an exhausting conversation with Paris, but I can appreciate that she was satisfied with the cut and dry synopsis of our story. I was actually excited to see her and Doyle get married. I was going to have to break the news to Logan that I wouldn't be there Sunday, though… I guess there's no time like the present.

I picked up the phone and dialed his number. He picked up almost immediately, "Ace, I was just about to call you…"

"What's up?"

"Well you sent me to voice mail yesterday, and I was busy last night, so I thought you might miss the sound of my voice…"

"So modest… And sorry about the voice mail thing. I was at work and I'm still trying to figure out where Gerry stands on all of his newly acquired information."

"Is he giving you a hard time?"

"I don't know yet… It's weird, he hasn't said anything, but it's like he's trying to catch me going back on what I said in our meeting the other day. Anyway, it just wasn't a good time to take a call. I hope it wasn't a time sensitive conversation… You didn't leave a message."

"Well, to be honest, I was kind of glad to put it off…"

"What are you avoiding Huntzberger?"

He hesitated… "I have to head up to Portland tomorrow, and from the sound of things It's looking like I might not make it back Sunday."

"Really? That's great!"

"Not exactly the reaction I was expecting…"

I laughed when I realized how it sounded, "No! That's not what I meant; of course I want you to come home, but… I was actually calling you to tell you that I'm not going to be here on Sunday either."

"Oh no?"

"I will be in Boston."

"Boston? What is so important in Boston that you were going to ditch me?"

"Well you're not going to be here anyway, so I'm technically not ditching you. But are you ready for the big news?"

"I'm waiting with baited breath…"

"Paris and Doyle are getting married."

"I'm sorry… Did you just say that Paris and Doyle are getting married?"

"I know. It's crazy… and I'm the Maid of Honor."

"Well you should be. Don't you hold the record for putting up with her the longest?"

"Yes, I believe I do hold that distinction, if you don't count Nanny anyway. But an unprecedented event such as this can't be missed, which is why I wasn't so devastated by your news. Sorry if I bruised your ego…"

"Hey, far be it for me to get in the way of Paris. And if anything bruised my ego it's not warranting an invitation of my own… Two of my former editors are getting hitched, and they don't invite their most dedicated reporter?"

I laughed out loud at that one. "Dedicated is not how I would describe Logan Huntzberger, Yale Daily News reporter."

"I came through when I needed to… Besides, I couldn't have been all bad, seeing as I've managed to convince another of my former editors to move in with me."

"Huh… Come to think of it, The Daily News really should have come up with some kind of non-fraternization policy."

"And what fun would that have been?"

"Well for one thing, I would have seen a lot less of Doyle walking around in Paris' bathrobe… but I guess you've made your point."

"So Paris and Doyle are getting married… I don't think Edgar Cayce could have seen this coming."

"Well, Paris "maudlin is her middle name" Gellar is finally acquiescing to Doyle's repeated proposals on the grounds that it is tax efficient, among other logical benefits."

"Naturally."

"Of course. What other reason could there be?"

There was a half second pause before he responded, "I can think of at least one…"

From his tone I could imagine the smile on his face when he said it. I was being sardonic, but he had taken a sharp turn onto Earnest Avenue. Between the sincere undertone of his comment, and knowing that the engagement ring was sitting in a drawer only a few feet away from me, I was very ready to change the subject.

"So… what will be keeping you on the West Coast? Things not going smoothly?"

He sighed, and I had a sneaking suspicion that it was as much to do with changing gears in our conversation as it did with what was going on at work.

"Well, for the most part they are. Internally things are set up and ready to go, the formats we control are stable, investors are on board, but a couple of our clients are not as pleased as we had hoped. Particularly this one in Portland, which I really should have seen coming…"

"How so?"

"Well, I pursued them initially; with maybe more to my agenda than just helping them widen their market…"

"Maybe?"

"My father had failed to acquire the paper several months before…"

"Ah… trying to stick it to Mitchum, huh? Very sneaking, sis…"

"I know, I know, it was childish, but how could I not?"

"I'll give you that one…"

"They were hesitant given the circumstances, but eventually we landed the account, they have been very successful and it all worked out…"

"…until now."

"Right. They're not exactly thrilled to be ending up in bed with HPG after all of that. Understandably, they're concerned that there will be bad blood with Mitchum joining our board, so some wooing is in order."

"Well, woo away then…"

"That's the plan… How goes the moving?"

"It's actually going. Mom, Leslie and I packed up most of my stuff yesterday, and we got the guys to help us unload it last night… I'm doing some unpacking now…"

"Finding space for all of your things?"

"Logan, my whole apartment could fit inside your bathroom."

"I've helped you move before, Ace. I don't know how you do it but you manage to cram three times as much stuff into a small space as any other person could. You're like the David Copperfield of fitting stuff into tiny apartments."

"I'll take that as a compliment…"

"Good. I'll let you get back to it then… I'll call you tomorrow when I land in Portland."

"Fly safe. I love you."

"I love you too. And I miss you like crazy… Don't let Paris talk you into staying in Boston for too long."

"As soon as you're back I'm all yours."

I had that goofy smile on my face again when we hung up. It felt good to be missed. I finished unpacking the box of clothes I had been working on when Paris called, and decided to call it a night.

** 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 a mini-Paris story line? I don't want to complicate the story with too many characters but I thought she should make an appearance... How about work? What do you think the future should have in store for our dear Rory?

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