It was 3:30 on Monday afternoon, and Christopher Hayden was in his office making a few final changes on a proposal before calling it a day. Lorelai was coming and he wanted to make sure he saw her. He spent an inordinately large portion of his day trying to plan for seeing her. He didn't want to be there when she arrived, partly because he wanted to give Gigi some time with her, and partly because as much as he wanted her back, he wasn't sure if he was ready for her to know that yet. He was pretty sure that if he told her what he wanted, she'd run for the hills. If he wanted to have any sort of a chance with her, he had to do it right. Lorelai Gilmore had been forgiving him for years, and he knew she was bound to reach her limit, probably sooner rather than later, if she hadn't already.

He dropped his proposal on his secretary's desk, with a note as to where it needed to be sent, and headed towards his car. His phone began to ring as he crossed the parking lot. A smile lit his face as he saw who the caller was.

"Daughter of mine!" he answered happily.

"Hey Dad! Someone's in a good mood today," Rory greeted him, her voice slightly suspicious.

"How are you, kid? How's the traveling circus?" he asked. He tried to direct the conversation away from himself. He wasn't sure he wanted Rory to know his intentions yet. The sudden marriage and subsequent divorce had been very difficult for her, and he didn't want her to feel as though she had to choose sides.

"I'm doing okay. The circus is about to make a loop through the great state of California though," she said rather glumly.

"I'm sorry," he said knowingly. "How are you doing with that?" For the most part they'd made a tacit agreement not to discuss their relationships. He didn't want to put her in the middle, and he knew if she needed to talk to someone about her problems it would likely be Lorelai and not him.

"It's hard. It's not like we broke up because we didn't love each other anymore. I want to hate him for giving me an ultimatum, but I don't know if I can," she confided. The fact that she was in pain made his heart break, but the smallest part of him was happy that she choose to confide in him.

"Hate is a waste of energy Rory. Just because you're not together doesn't mean you have to hate him."

"I know Dad, but I feel like if I hate him, I'll be able to get over him quicker."

Christopher nodded even though he knew she couldn't see him. He understood the desire to get over someone quickly. He hoped his daughter had better luck than he did. "So have you heard from him or anything?" he asked.

"Nope." She popped the p when she said the word. "But I did get an email from Stephanie yesterday."

"Who's Stephanie?" he asked, racking his brain trying to remember Rory's friends.

"Stephanie is one of Logan's best friends that became one of my close friends when Logan and I were together. I haven't heard from her since my graduation party," Rory explained.

"One of those kind of friends," he said even though he didn't really have much experience in that area. Both he and Lore ran their separate ways after Rory was born and therefore didn't have to deal with dividing up the friends, and recently, he was in her town, they were all her friends first. There was no contest, right now he was just feeling lucky if he made it through that part of Connecticut without getting his car egged or his tires slashed. "Are you going to email her back?"

"I already did. I figure either she wants to renew our friendship, which is okay I guess, because I kind of miss her, or Logan has sent her as an emissary, in which case at least I'll have a heads up as to what's coming."

"Would you want to get back together with Logan?"
"I don't know," she said quietly. "Mom would hate that."

"Ror, it's not about what your mom, or anyone else, would like. It's about you, and being happy," he said, feeling a bit awkward giving fatherly advice.

"I know that, I really do. I just don't know what I want. I loved Logan. No, I still love Logan, I just don't know if I'm strong enough to go through that again. If he's even interested in putting things back together. Maybe us being apart is for the best, you know?"

Chris could hear the uncertainty in her voice, he wished he was there to hug her and reassure her. "You've gotta do what you've gotta do kid. Make yourself happy and the rest will fall into place, I promise. And if Logan doesn't want you back, then he's an even bigger idiot than I ever thought possible."

Rory chuckled on the other end of the phone, "Thanks Dad. I needed that. Oh! The bus is boarding, time to rejoin the circus. I'll talk to you soon. Give my love to Gigi. Love you."

"I love you too Ror. If you need anything just let me know, I'm only a phone call and a plane ride away." He smiled as he hung up the phone. As badly as he'd screwed up over the years his daughter still loved him. Maybe there was still hope for her mother.

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Christopher pulled into his driveway later than he anticipated. He smiled at the sight of Lorelai's Jeep™ parked at the curb. She was still there. He walked into his house quietly, for once not wanting to make his presence known immediately. He looked into the living room and saw Gigi showing Lorelai her dance routine.

"It'll be so pretty to have sparkles on my dress. Do you think we could make them light up when I spin?" she asked eagerly.

"Unfortunately I think the lights are going to be a no-go my little Margot Fonteyn," Lorelai told her. "I don't think your teachers or the rest of your classmates would appreciate the distraction… so lets just stick to 'sparkles.'"

"Okay Aunt Lorelai." Gigi went back to dancing around the room, and suddenly, her father leaning against the wall caught her attention. "Daddy!" she squealed, running across the room to launch herself into his arms.

"Wait, G! Let me put down the coffee," he said, as he quickly set the two to-go cups on the nearest flat surface. He picked up his daughter and kissed her head. "I brought you coffee," he told Lorelai. His mother had always taught him never to go anywhere empty handed, and today, that included going home to the woman he was in love with.

"Thanks Chris. What did you bring for yourself?" she teased as she eyed both of the cups.

He chuckled, "I was kind of hoping you'd share."

"Maybe. What kind did you bring?" she asked as she crossed the room to take one of the cups.

"Something called an Almond Joy Mocha, and a sugar free vanilla latte," he told her. She wrinkled her nose at the sugar free bit, and he knew his latte was safe.

"Sugar free? That's just disgusting Chris. I thought you had better taste," she chided him.

"I guess you haven't rubbed off on me enough yet." He meant for his tone to be teasing, but based on the look of mortification on her face, he pushed it just a little bit too far.

"Not cool Christopher," she said quietly. "So Gigi," she started in attempts to redirect the conversation, "what color 'sparkles' do you want?"

"Pink! No purple! No red!" Gigi kept changing her mind, causing Lorelai to laugh.

"How about we do rainbow?" she told her, "that way all of the colors are there!"

"Yeah!" Gigi cheered.

"Hey Gigi, before I forget, your big sister sends her love," Christopher said hoping to break the ice between he and Lorelai again.

"Really?" Gigi asked.

"Yep! She was calling from California today."

"Does she get to meet Mickey and Minnie while she's there?" Gigi asked, clearly remembering her only trip to California.

"Maybe. You'll have to ask her next time she calls." Gigi was satisfied with that answer and returned to dancing about the living room again.

"So you talked to Rory today?" Lorelai asked. He nodded. "She's in California?" He nodded again. "Did she say how she was?"

"She said she was doing okay." He wanted to tell her the whole conversation, but if Rory hadn't told Lorelai about Stephanie and being in California, there must have been a reason, and he didn't want to break her confidence. "Haven't you talked to her lately?"

"I talk to her every day," Lorelai started, "but she knows I wasn't Logan's biggest fan, so I think she holds some of that stuff back from me."

He had to give her credit. Lorelai Gilmore knew her daughter. "Give it time Lore," was the only thing he could think to say. She nodded in acknowledgement, then bent her head to begin attaching sequins to Gigi's leotard.

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An hour later Lorelai finished adding the sequins. "Gigi! It's done, come and look, I want to make sure you like it," she called out to the little girl, who had gone to play in another room.

Gigi came running into the room, "It's so pretty!" she exclaimed when she saw it. "Daddy what do you think?"

Christopher looked at the extremely sparkly costume, and silently said a prayer hoping that the dance teacher wouldn't mind the last minute costume alteration. "It's great G, what do you say?"

"Thank you Aunt Lorelai."
"You're welcome sweetie, anything for you."

"Aunt Lorelai?" Gigi started hesitantly, "Will come to my show and watch me dance?"

Christopher looked at Lorelai waiting for her to respond. He really wanted her to say yes, but this was between the two of them, and he was going to stay out of it. He watched Lorelai smiling at Gigi trying to figure out how to answer, the internal struggle she was having was evident to him.

"Sure sweetie," she responded. He could tell that she wasn't thrilled to be doing this, but that she didn't want to let Gigi down and it was probably better than Friday Night Dinner. She looked down at her watch and spoke again, "It's getting late though, and I should probably go now, but I'll see you Friday."

Gigi nodded in excitement, then hugged Lorelai goodbye. Christopher got up to walk her to the door.

"Thank you again Lore..." he started.

"Don't Chris," she said firmly. "This is for Gigi, NOT for you."

He nodded in understanding and closed the door behind her when she left.

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Things definitely did not go as planned, but Christopher knew that he had at least one more chance.

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It was 3:30 on Tuesday afternoon and Logan Huntzberger was pacing around his office. He had a presentation to give in the very near future and he couldn't focus on it long enough to finish it. Rory was in California. She was due in San Francisco on Friday according to her tour schedule. She was in San Diego today, Los Angeles tomorrow, and Sacramento on Thursday. He looked at his own calendar and contemplated going to see her at an earlier stop. Sacramento wasn't that far away. Either way, he would be seeing Rory Gilmore this week.

He grabbed his cell phone and dialed Stephanie. He wasn't sure how much help she'd be because of the "Girl Code," but he had to try.

"I'm not forwarding you that email Logan, just give it up," she said when she answered the phone.

"Well hello to you too Stephanie."

"I'm serious Logan."

"I know! That's not why I'm calling. She's coming here. What should I do?" he asked his friend.

"I'm not really sure…" Stephanie paused for a moment.

"You've got to know something. Did her email give you any hints as to anything?" Logan was beginning to get annoyed. At this exact moment he was wishing Colin or Finn had been chosen to get back in touch with Rory, at least they'd be helpful with ideas. Finn loved a good scheme, and well Colin just tried to keep them out of trouble. "Are you planning on seeing her while she's in town?"

"I'm going to see her in L.A. tomorrow. We're meeting for drinks after the speech." He could tell she was not thrilled to give up this information.

"Great, I'll go with you and surprise her."

"No you won't Logan," she told him sternly. "You've got to do better than that. At least in San Francisco you can claim to be at the speech for work or something, but there's no reason for you to go to L.A."

"But what should I do?" he was practically begging for help.

"I think you've got to figure this one out on your own. You know her better than all of us. Look, I've got to go, I'll see you tonight."

"Bye Steph," he said, then disconnected the call.

Logan resumed pacing in his office as he thought about the situation. Steph was right, he did know her better than anyone, at least anyone that would help him. He thought of his past gestures to get her attention or win her forgiveness, flowers, doughnuts, jewelry, a coffee cart, none of those would work, not this time. He needed something more. He left his office telling his assistant that he was working from home for the remainder of the afternoon, and headed toward the hotel where Finn and Colin were staying. While Stephanie may have been right about him knowing Rory best, he disagreed with the idea that he needed to figure things out on his own.

*******************************

A sleepy Finn opened the door after Logan pounded on in for a full 30 seconds. "Mate, where's the fire?"

"Why are you still sleeping Finn? It's almost 5:00 in the afternoon," Logan asked curiously.

"Some of us need our beauty sleep," he replied.

"More like some of us didn't get home until 10:00 this morning," Colin chimed in from the living room of the suite.

"If you're here, why couldn't you get the door?" Finn asked Colin in a surly tone. Logan looked at the pair curious for the answer himself.

"Headphones," Colin said gesturing to the pair around his neck, "Finn snores like a bear."

"I do no such thing!" Finn shouted indignantly. "Tell him Mate."

"Sorry Finn, Colin's right. I can't believe I forgot how terribly you snore." Logan's response in support of Colin made Finn give him a dirty look.

"Fine then, I'll just return to bed," Finn said as he turned to go back to the bedroom.

"No wait!" Logan called out to stop him, "I need your help."

"Reporter Girl?" they both asked in unison. He nodded in confirmation.

They spent the next two hours coming up with the perfect plan of attack. In the end they decided he would go to the Sacramento speech on Thursday, and ask her to dinner after the speech. That couldn't go too horribly wrong could it?

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The day of the speech in Sacramento, Logan left work early to prepare for seeing Rory. He took the company car to the site of the speech, and stopped and got coffee and flowers on his way. He waited patiently throughout the speech, watching Rory from several rows behind her. He could watch her for hours, she was dressed in a dark suit with her hair up in a twist, and he could tell she was bent forward in concentration taking notes, on the speech of course, but also on the crowd reaction to the speech and the speaker. Once the speech was over, he moved swiftly towards the door and positioned himself, with the flowers, and a pound of her favorite coffee beans, near the door.

"Rory!" he called out loudly when she approached. She was engrossed in conversation with one of the other reporters, the guy he had seen her sitting next to during the speech. "RORY!" he called again louder. She finally looked up and he noticed that shock was the expression that registered on her face. Her cheeks flushed a little, but she changed her course to head in his direction.

"Logan. Hi," she said quietly when she finally reached him.

"I'm here to take you to dinner," he told her. "Hi I'm Logan," he addressed the man standing next to Rory. "Who's this Ace?"

"Peter, this is Logan. Logan this is Peter." Her introductions were mechanical and he couldn't help but notice that she left out all adjectives.

"So, let's go!" he said again, trying to take her to dinner. He held out the flowers and coffee for her to take.

"Peter, can you give me a minute?" Rory asked the man standing next to her.

All of the sudden it dawned on Logan, what if she'd moved on? What if Peter was more than just another reporter, what if he was her new boyfriend, he thought the word in distaste. "Frank and the car are waiting outside, I thought we'd go for dinner."

"Logan," she started in an exasperated tone, "you can't just show up here."

"Why not? It's a free country." His response was more flippant than he intended, but he was annoyed, this wasn't how it was supposed to go.

"That's not what I mean and you know it. You can't just show up here after a month of silence, and expect that I'm free to be whisked away to do whatever you want." She was really annoyed.

"It's just dinner. In this town even." He was trying to convince her.

"I already have plans. Had you given me any notice maybe I would have been able to get out of them," she told him coldly.

"But…" he started

"No. You have my phone number, you have my email address, if you want to see me or talk to me, use them." She turned on her heel to walk away.

"Rory, wait…" he called after her. She turned around but she didn't come back to him. "How about dinner tomorrow night in San Francisco? Colin, Finn, Honor and Stephanie are all in town, and I know they'd love to see you. Please? I'm asking in advance."

"Fine, I'll go, but only because I want to see THEM. I'll see you tomorrow." And with that, she was gone, off to whatever mysterious event she had with Peter. Logan watched her walk away until he could no longer pick out her form, then returned to his car.

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Things definitely did not go as planned, but Logan knew that he at least had one more chance.

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Author's Note: I don't own Gilmore Girls (no surprise there). Thank you so much for all of the reviews!!! I'm amazed at the response! I'll try to get chapter 4 up later this week!

S