The alarm on my phone went off Friday morning and when I sat up I had to let my eyes adjust to the light coming through the two large windows in the room. My apartment had a window, but to say it was small would be generous, and it looked onto an alley between my building and the next, so direct sunlight was a long forgotten luxury. It was definitely different waking up here, but not as abnormal going to bed here alone last night; I was officially no longer a guest here. I live here.
Naturally, the first thing on my to-do list for the day was to start a pot of coffee. While I waited for it to brew I text my mom, "Busy Sunday?"
No immediate response so I took my coffee upstairs to find something in my stacks of clothes to wear to work. By the time I got out of the shower I had a response, "Depends on the offer..."
"Paris' wedding." I was smiling as I typed it, knowing full well what her reaction would be. I waited... 3, 2, 1… There it is. My phone rang.
"Excuse me?"
"Yep, Paris and Doyle are getting married."
"Paris? Stick-it-to-the-man, Destiny's Child Independent Women Paris is getting married?"
"Don't worry, she's still the same Paris that we know and… like, but she has agreed to marry Doyle."
"I'm sorry; I need to go get a coat. The chill from hell freezing over is starting to rise up to the earth's surface."
"I know. Entirely unexpected, but she has perfectly rational explanations for it, none of which are actually important right now, especially since I am in the process of getting ready for work, but the gist of it is that I agreed, or more so was assigned to the post of Maid of Honor, and you have garnered a coveted invitation."
"Well I'm honored."
"Good, so you'll come? It's in Boston."
"Yes. I'm in. Are you driving?"
"Yea. I was actually hoping I could come home tomorrow night and we could head up to Boston from there."
"Roger that. What should I wear?"
"I don't know really. She said it's at City Hall, nothing fancy… Oh, do you have anything green?"
"Like St. Patrick's Day?"
"No. She said Doyle's tie is green, so I should wear something green. I think I have a green skirt somewhere, but in my mess of moving stuff I can't find it."
"I'll check when I get home tonight. Hey, I thought Logan was coming back Sunday."
"He's stuck in Portland, apparently there's a bit of a hang up with one of their papers. It's a bummer that he's away for longer, but at least I don't have to feel guilty about going away."
"Well that's good. How about work, are you taking Monday off?"
"I'm not sure yet. I would like to so I don't have to rush back to the city late Sunday night, but things feel a little tense since I told Gerry about the whole thing with Dominic and The Times. I don't know if it's a good idea."
"Is everything okay? You're not going to get into hot water are you?"
"I don't know… I'm keeping up on everything; I'm even ahead on my deadlines and pitches. I guess I just have to see how things are going."
"Alright kid. Good luck."
"Thanks Mom. Let me know if you have anything green."
"Will do. Love you!"
"You too."
I took a deep breath thinking about the whole work situation. I had to get work done on the Obama article for Dominic; I would really like to get him a draft today actually, but the amount of work I could get done on it would really depend on how closely Gerry was watching me.
I met Leslie for coffee and filled her in on my updated plans for the weekend. I had told her enough about Paris for her to be amused by the news, but it was hard to appreciate unless you've actually spent any time with her.
I didn't see Gerry when we got up to the office, so I got right to work on my Times piece. I'd gone through the research, and already being pretty familiar with his platform made it easier to get an outline going. I wanted to stay pretty neutral, a good journalist has to; hard facts, deliver the information, don't let personal opinions cloud the bearing of the article.
I still hadn't heard from Gerry after lunch, so I thought my efforts to abate his concerns about my commitments had paid off. I finally made a decision for my next pitch and then checked in at his office, hoping that putting in for a day off would go smoothly… I had vacation days after all, I was just a little afraid that the timing would be suspicious.
"Gerry?"
He looked up from his desk, "Gilmore?"
"I want to talk to you about taking Monday off. I'm going to be out of town, unless I really…"
"You know we have a pitch meeting Monday."
"I know. And I already have the last instalment of my series promised to you for next week, plus I want to start working on a piece about the rumors around the WikiLeaks investigation…"
"WikiLeaks?"
"Yea, the military is going to file new charges against Bradly Manning…"
"I know. I just don't know if that's going to be the right story for you."
What? "With all due respect Sir, why don't you think it's right for me."
"Well, it's a big story, and an ongoing one. It's going to take a lot of coverage, and I want someone on it who's going to be fully committed."
Oh no. "I am committed. I know it's a big story, that's why I want to report on it."
"I just think someone who is less distracted would be more capable of the coverage we're looking for."
Crap. This is not good; he's supposed to be playing ball to keep me here. "I'm not distracted. And you gave me my choice of leads before…"
He looked at me and nodded. He had given me my choice. "Alright. I'll give you a shot with it, but it's got to be up to par."
"It will be. In fact, it will be a birdie." Did I just make a sports reference?
"I'll look forward to it then."
I was hesitant to push my luck, but it was what I had come in here for, "And Monday?"
"Monday… Take it. But I need a draft of you last instalment in my box on Tuesday."
"Tuesday?" My deadline wasn't until Thursday.
"Yea, if you're taking on WikiLeaks I want you to get on it, so let's get this series out of the way…" He looked me in the eye. "You can handle it, right?"
He was testing me. It wasn't about getting the series done and moving on; it was about taking time away from the freelance work he knew I was doing. I had chosen to do this; I had to make it work. "Right."
Crap. Three articles, Paris' wedding, moving… how did I suddenly become so overwhelmed with stuff? I had to get the space shuttle work closed out this weekend, and Gerry was obviously going to be expecting something on WikiLeaks soon, plus I was expecting to hear from Dominic any minute wondering why I hadn't gotten anything to him. Come on, Rory. Get organized.
The majority of my last series piece was fleshing out what I already had, plus incorporating that interview from yesterday. I could do that tomorrow. If I work late today, I might be able to get Dominic a draft on the Obama piece. When I get home Monday I can focus on pulling facts on the new story. And moving… well unpacking would have to wait.
Logan called late in the afternoon to let me know he landed in Portland, "Hey Ace."
I was more glad than usual to hear his voice. This had turned out to be a way more stressful day than I had planned for, "Hi…"
"Uh, oh. What's wrong?"
"Huh?"
"You sound distracted; what's up?"
"Um, just work stuff… Turns out Gerry is more interested in keeping me from my freelance work than he is in competing with it."
"Ah… what's he throwing at you?"
"Moving up deadlines, questioning whether I can handle working on my next pitch."
"Which is?"
"The WikiLeaks indictment."
He paused, "Well, it is a big story…"
"Logan! You're supposed to be on my side. That's how this whole relationship thing works, remember?"
"I am on your side."
"The whole reason I pitched it was because I thought it would look good to Gerry and keep him happy now that he knows I have other plans… You don't think I can do it?"
"Hey, hey that's not what I said. I know you can do it, but are you sure you want to?"
"I think I have to… It's just going to be a long weekend. Probably a long week, actually... I took Monday off since I'll be coming back from Boston, and that certainly didn't help my standing with Gerry. It's like he's taking this personally."
"Well, you'll get through it. And as far as Gerry goes, if you were showing interest in leaving me for someone else, I'd take it personally too."
I rolled my eyes. "Logan…"
"Relax, Ace, at least a little. Don't worry about Gerry's feelings; just take care of what you have to get done. Make it through the weekend. I'm sorry I can't be there for you…"
"Don't be. I'm sorry I'm unloading all of this on you when you've got your own stuff to deal with this weekend."
"Hey, that's how this whole relationship thing works, remember?"
"Right… So what's on slate for your predicament? More wooing to do?"
"Definitely more wooing; coffee, maybe drinks… see if we can sort things out the easy way before we decide a major sit down is in order."
"And if it is? I mean, what happens if you can't sort things out?"
"Hopefully it won't come to that, but potentially we lose them as a client. Definitely something we want to avoid. They're a successful paper with high local print circulation, and expanding online readership, which is really what matters to us. Worst case scenario we end up in arbitration and settle out of our contract, which would be a loss for us, but in the big picture of the merger it would be a hit we'd have to take."
"Yikes. And you let me go on about having a busy weekend?"
"Well, I knew going into business with HPG would raise the stakes, so we have to make things work, sometimes that means making tough calls."
"Look at you, all serious business man-y, tackling the industry."
"Hey, somebody started the rumor that I knew what I was doing, so I have to keep up appearances…"
"I'd say you're doing a pretty decent job."
"Good to know."
It was one of those moments where it hit me, just how successful he had become, "Hey Logan…"
"Yea, Ace?"
"I'm really proud of you…"
He didn't answer right away, but I think he had a smile on his face, "Hey, I'm booked on a flight home Monday night, hopefully we'll have something to celebrate when we make this deal work."
"Sounds good… I love you."
"Love you too… Hey, don't work too hard."
"Too late."
Working late turned out to be an understatement. Leslie, being the angel that she is came back bring me dinner after she had already left for the day, and I didn't get out of the office until almost ten, but I finally got at least the start of a solid article emailed to Dominic.
I showered when I got home and set an early alarm before I fell into bed. By seven Saturday morning I had poured myself a very large cup of coffee and had taken over the dining room table with everything I needed to piece together my article.
I got a couple of updates from Logan during the day about their meetings… minimal progress, but no major clouds on the horizon. I, on the other hand, was actually putting a pretty decent dent in my article, and was in a pretty good mood considering my minor episode yesterday. At least I was until I heard from Dominic.
"Hey, I got your piece."
"What do you think?"
"I think it's good."
"Good?"
"It's good… But good's not enough; not if you really want to make a name for yourself over there."
I was suddenly feeling pretty defeated. I had put in a lot of work yesterday, but I guess I had to know it wasn't my best work, "So what now?"
"Well, to be honest, I wish you'd gotten it to me earlier in the week. It's got potential, but at this point there's no way we can get it to them before final copy for a shot at Sunday. I'll send you my notes; give it some work and get it back to me ASAP."
"Right… will do." I had no objection to putting more work into the article; I definitely didn't want to send anything sub-par to The Times; it was the as-soon-as-possible part that was going to be a challenge. I just needed to readjust my schedule. If I leave early tomorrow I could get to Stars Hollow in enough time to meet up with Mom and still get to Boston on time. That way I could work tonight, and if I need to I can have Mom make the drive from Stars Hollow and I can get some editing done in the car.
I called my mom, "Change of plans…"
"Did Paris get cold feet?"
"No… in fact, from what I gathered, she's handing all of this very clinically, so cold feet probably aren't such of an issue."
"Maybe they'll get married in the basement of City Hall and give out toe tags as favors."
"Creepy… Anyway, my change of plans is that I won't be home tonight. I'm going to have to leave early tomorrow and meet you probably just in time for us to leave."
"Aw bummer, I was ready for a sleepover tonight…"
"I know… me too, but things have gotten ridiculously crazy at work…"
"Your master plan not working out?"
"I'm just juggling a lot, and I have several things that need to get done right away."
"Fine; be responsible…"
"Speaking of being responsible, you never called me back about finding something for me to wear."
"You know, I had several things that needed to get done right away."
"Mom."
"Sorry, but a mother never quite gets over no longer being a priority in her only daughter's life… but yes, I found a dress."
"This dress isn't going to reflect the grudge you seem to be harboring against me, is it?"
"No, it's a pretty fabulous dress actually. I bought it before I found out I was pregnant with Landon, and it has since sat unworn and neglected in the back of my closet because… well, let's just say that my body didn't quite bounce back from having a baby the way it did when I was sixteen."
"Mom, you look great."
"But I look great in the right clothes. This is a little…"
"A little what? Should I just go buy a dress?"
"No… You might want to wear a sweater with it for the ceremony, but it will be fine."
I was definitely skeptical. My mother had style, but our senses of style were not necessarily always in synch. "Promise?"
"Promise. What time are we supposed to be there?"
"Well the wedding is supposed to start at three, so probably at least by two to be safe. I'll be at your place by 11:30 so I can change, but we'll have to hit the road pretty quick."
"Deal."
"You sure this fabulous dress of yours is appropriate."
"Yes… I think so. Besides, you'll look great. Somebody needs to wear this dress."
Good Lord. I would definitely look for that green skirt tonight, but I still had some major work to do today. I re-upped my caffeine supply and got back to it. By the time I went upstairs I was basically a zombie, but I half-heartedly rummaged through a few piles of clothes. No green skirt.
I started a pot of coffee after I woke up Sunday morning. I still can't believe Paris is getting married.
I sat down at the counter with my freshly poured cup and flipped through The Sunday Times, but knowing what wasn't in it took away from what was normally a pretty relaxing ritual. I had put in some work on my article last night, but I was going to have to go through the rest of Dominic's notes in the car later.
After a quick perusalI decided it wasn't worth torturing myself and headed upstairs to shower. I still wasn't sold on the dress Mom was so eager for me to wear, so I took one more attempt to find that green skirt, but to no avail. I vaguely remember Leslie borrowing it at one point, so I sent her a text asking if she still had it.
"At the dry cleaners. Why?"
Crap. In Lorelai we trust, I guess. After telling her I wanted it for the wedding, and then explaining that a skirt was good enough for a city hall ceremony, I took a quick shower and got my hair and makeup taken care. I picked a couple of sweaters and pairs of shoes, figuring I would decide what to wear when I saw the dress; I pulled on some jeans and hit the road.
I pulled into the driveway at my Mom's and was surprised to see that her Jeep wasn't there. I was happy, however to be greeted on the porch by Landon and Paul Anka.
"Rory!"
"Hey Bud! How's it going?"
He began to regal the details of the latest encounter between Paul Anka and Babette's new cat, some of which had been exaggerated by his two year old perspective.
I picked him up while he continued his story and went inside to find Luke in the kitchen.
"Hi Luke!"
"Hey Rory. You're here early..."
I checked the Betty Boop clock above the sink, which had been a Christmas gift from Sookie last year; I was only two minutes earlier than my estimated arrival time of 11:30. Well I guess I should take credit for being early where I can get it.
"Yea, I made good time coming up. Is Mom here? We're supposed to..."
"Hello" She shouted from the entry way.
"Never mind."
She came bustling in carrying a dry cleaning bag, two shoe boxes, and a pastry box.
"Rory! You're here... But it's eleven-thirty."
"Exactly. Eleven-thirty. As in the time I said I would be here."
"Right, but when you say you're going to be here at eleven-thirty, that usually means you'll be here closer to twelve..."
"I am not that bad."
"Fine, but I won't be held at fault for assuming that I'd have more time."
"What is all of this?"
"Well, I went to pick up my dress from the dry cleaners, but they didn't open until 10:00. I could have sworn they opened at 9:00 on Sundays, but..."
"We can discuss the dry cleaning conspiracy later since it looks like you got your dress... What about mine?"
"Oh it's on your bed..."
"Thank you." I stood up and put Landon down, about to head to my room.
"You don't want to know about the rest of my morning?"
I glared at her, but she was practically begging for me to ask. She seemed to be ready except for getting dressed, which couldn't take that long, so I comprised.
"Okay... But I want the abridged version."
"So I get to the dry cleaner and first I think they must have forgotten to turn the sign..."
"I said abridged, woman! I'm talking Cliff's Notes... We've got places to be."
She looked disappointed but took a deep breath, "Cleaners wasn't open, walked down to Weston's to get doughnuts for the road, come back, lucky me, the shoe store is open and double lucky me, the shoes I tried on last week but didn't buy were on sale, so it was pretty much a sign that I should get them now..."
I waited to see if she was finished, and then Luke put his foot in his mouth "What, did they pack one shoe in each box?"
"Two shoes, two boxes."
Everybody looked at Landon, and I had to give him credit, "Smart kid..."
"Somebody in this house has to be." I could always count on Luke for an excellent dose of sarcasm.
"No, no silly boys... Four shoes, two boxes. Rory understands, right?"
"Ah yes, the ManoloAlgorithm, otherwise known as counting in pairs."
"I thought that was the Louboutin Theorem?"
"A common misunderstanding. The Louboutin Theorem involves the exponential effect that the color of the sole has on the cost of the shoe."
Luke had had enough of this bit, "So what you're saying is that you bought two pairs of shoes."
"In layman's terms, yes."
"But you only have two feet. You can only wear one pair at a time. You have more shoes than anyone I've ever met."
"Really Luke? I think you've met my mother... About yay tall, shrill voice, special skills include petrifying maids and verbally abusing family and sworn enemies alike…"
"She's right. Grandma has quite the shoe collection."
"Besides, they were both on sale, so it's like I only bought one."
"Fine… Whatever; just don't expect me to dig you out when that shelf collapses on you."
"Alas, I will have to wait for Sir Lancelot to come to my rescue…"
"Alright, Guinevere, we have to get ready and get out of here."
"Alas, thou doeth rusheth me soeth…"
"Really nailed the Old English there, Mom. Now go get dressed!"
She finally headed upstairs, so I went into my room to find a garment bag on the bed. I hung it on my closet door and unzipped it. The dress really wasn't bad… satiny green with a cowl neck. Spaghetti straps were a little questionable for a wedding, but that's what the… Oh My God.
"Mom!"
I had taken the dress out of the bag to find that it was pretty much backless. Not scandalously so, but more than I would have ever picked for myself, and certainly not for an afternoon wedding.
"What? You're rushing me to get dressed and now you call me back down here…"
"I can't wear this."
"Why not? It's a gorgeous dress…"
"I know, but it has no back."
"That's what the sweater is for. Just put it on…"
I slid on the dress.
"See, it looks amazing on you."
It did fit me well, and I pulled on one of the sweaters I had brought, which helped, but now I was stuck wearing a sweater all day.
Without too much more ado we were finally on our way, road doughnuts and all. I got plenty of grief from Mom about working on our 'road trip', but it had to be done. We were only slightly behind schedule when we pulled up to City Hall, but still plenty early for the ceremony. We had barely walked in when out of nowhere Paris appeared and dragged me down the hall.
"Why am I doing this?"
"Dragging me into the bathroom? I don't know."
"No. Why am I getting married?"
"I believe for tax purposes."
"That's stupid."
"Hey, that's what I was told."
"You're my Maid of Honor; you're supposed to be keeping me calm."
"Well, it would help to know what has caused this panic…"
"His whole family is here. Parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins…"
"Well, they are Doyle's family. Aren't they supposed to be here?"
"Yes, but they're all gushing over the fact that we're finally getting married and how exciting it is and does this mean we're going to start popping out kids."
"Okay, well it's natural for families to be excited about nuptials. And despite what they have to say about it, you and Doyle are the ones that make the call on procreation…" She was very worked up, and now that I had a chance to look at her was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, with no makeup and her hair was in a messy bun on top of her head. "…Paris is that what you're wearing?"
"What?" She was clearly still wrapped up in her panic. "No… My dress is in there." She motioned to the stall.
"Well, maybe if we get you ready, you'll be feeling more festive…"
"I don't want to feel festive. I want to be in control, and those people are making a big deal out of this."
I looked her in the eye. She was actually nervous. "Paris, this doesn't have to be a big deal if you don't want it to be. You've pretty much got the simplest ceremony you could manage without running to Atlantic City… And if you really don't want to go through with it, my mom's car is in the parking lot."
She gave a halfhearted smile.
"Come on, you were so matter of fact about this on the phone. What's really wrong here?"
She took a deep breath and finally relaxed a little. "I just… I don't want this to mess us up. Marriage messes people up. And Doyle and I work together. I don't always know why, but for whatever reason, we do. Besides you, he is the only person who has ever really gotten me, and I don't want to screw it up."
Paris was actually having feelings. How sweet. "Paris, you are not going to screw it up. If Doyle has stuck it out this long, he's not going anywhere. Think about it. You've tried to run him off before, and it didn't work."
She shrugged, "That's true…"
"Right. So why would you think that he would leave on his own now? And if he ever tried to, that would make him an idiot… plus you could always go Krav Maga on his ass and keep him locked up in a closet or something."
"Also true…" She took another deep breath. "…Okay. Let's do this."
"Okay!" She pulled out her bag and started to brush her hair; I took off my sweater and started to help her with her makeup.
"Rory?"
"Yes, Paris?"
"Do you know that your dress doesn't have a back?"
"Yes, Paris."
After getting her dressed in a simple, but beautiful cream colored dress, and promising to keep my sweater on for the ceremony, we found ourselves standing outside the courtroom chambers. My mom was waiting for us.
"Paris, you look wonderful."
"Thank you. And thanks for coming, Lorelai, it means a lot."
"Of course… Now I know you don't really believe in all of this wedding stuff, but I thought you should have your cosmic bases covered, so… Oh is this a new dress?"
"Yea, I bought it last week."
"Good. So you have Rory, an old friend, a new dress, you're borrowing me since your parents aren't here and now you have something blue..." She handed Paris a necklace, which I recognized as piece of Liz's work; it was a blue pendant on a thin beaded chain, to too flashy, very Paris. "…my wedding gift to you."
For a half of a second it looked like Paris might actually cry. "Thank you Lorelai… it's…"
I finished the sentence for her and helped her clasp the necklace, "Perfect." I gave Mom a very approving nod.
After a silent moment of female bonding, Paris came back to her level headed self, "Right, well… let's get this show on the road."
"Right…" Mom gave each of us a hug and went inside.
I looked at Paris, "Have your nerves abated? You're not going to bolt as soon as I turn around, are you?"
"I don't think so."
"You sure? The offer on my mom's car still stands…"
"I'm sure. I'm glad you're here."
"Me too… And you and Doyle are going to be great. You're made for each other." I left out the crack I had about being the only two people on the planet who could handle each other, but I'm pretty sure she knew what I was thinking. Unexpectedly she wrapped her arms around me in a hug. Our friendship always snuck up on me. We had never been best friends in the traditional sense, but we could always count on each other, and I really was happy to be with her today.
"Okay, let's do this."
"Let's do it." I opened the door and made my way down the center aisle of the courtroom, followed by the bride.
I got to the front of the aisle and gave Doyle a nod and a smile. He seemed to relax a little bit; I can only imagine how nervous he had gotten given Paris' mood earlier. The ceremony had nothing superfluous or cheesy. The Justice of the Peace said her bit, they got through their vows about taking care of each other, and pushing each other to be better, they kissed, everyone cheered for them, and it was over. It was short and sweet, just the way Paris wanted.
Everyone followed them back down the aisle and into the lobby. Doyle's parents invited everyone to a restaurant for a quasi-reception, and apparently his family likes to party because everyone made their way towards the door almost immediately. Paris and Doyle were towards the back of the pack and walked with Mom and me.
"So, Mrs. McMaster… How does being a married woman feel?"
"Doesn't matter now, she's stuck with me." Doyle had a very accomplished look on his face, but I had to laugh a little when I saw him look at Paris out of the corner of his eye, making sure he hadn't overstepped.
"Relax; I'm done freaking out about it. But don't start with that Mrs. McMaster stuff.
"Paris isn't changing her name, but don't bring it up to my family. They're more traditional than that."
"They should just be happy we got married at all."
"Hey kids, speaking of getting married, shouldn't you be celebrating with that traditional family of yours?"
"Yes, but I'm going to need a drink if I'm going to spend more than five minutes talking to your sister."
"As your lawfully married husband, I think I can oblige."
The four of us made our way through the doors and found that Doyle's family had not in fact ditched the happy couple, but were waiting for them on the steps outside with more cheers and congratulations. I watched the two of them make their way through the small throng of people towards their car, and I felt Mom elbow me.
"What was that for?"
"Well Samantha, I think Jake Ryan found you…"
"What?"
"If only I had a Thompson Twins cassette cued up for this." She nodded toward something across the street.
I looked past the crowd, and sure enough it was Sixteen Candles come to life. Logan was parked across the street, leaning against his car, a big smile on his face when I saw him. He wasn't supposed to be back until tomorrow night… I looked at Mom.
"What are you looking at me for? Go get your panties back."
I took the side stairs to avoid the rest of Doyle's family and Logan met me at the sidewalk.
"What are you doing here?"
"Crashing a wedding."
"Logan..."
"You want me to leave?"
"No. Of course not… but I though you weren't getting back… I thought you had more wooing to do?"
"What can I say? I'm good at what I do…"
"I'll say."
He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me and I collapsed into him.
"I missed you."
"I missed you too, Ace."
I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face. Showing up like this was definitely an old-Logan move, but it was one of his best.
** I do not own any characters or content related to Gilmore Girls or any other entities mentioned. **
A/N - I'm sorry for such a long break in posting! I hope it was worth it. Thank you to everyone who has followed and favorited the story, I love seeing people enjoy it!
Don't forget to comment, and I promise not to leave you hanging for too long this time... xx