Author's Note: Ghostwriter asked about one of my references, and it's from Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922), the invincible Antarctic explorer whose fame came from his expeditions - none of them successful - to reach the South Pole. The text of the ad typically reads: "MEN WANTED FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. SMALL WAGES, BITTER COLD, LONG MONTHS OF COMPLETE DARKNESS, CONSTANT DANGER, SAFE RETURN DOUBTFUL. HONOR AND RECOGNITION IN CASE OF SUCCESS."
A/N: I don't own GG.
Crazy Random Happenstance and Other Oddities
"Finn, admit defeat," Colin encouraged his drunken friend.
"No!" Finn, eyes wide with sudden inspiration, turned to face Rory once again. "I know, love! I'll buy you a flaming shot; it's the only authentic way to make amends for breaking the most sacred of my rules."
In her attempt to stifle her laugh at Finn's sudden, and enthusiastic, outburst, Rory'd managed to choke on a swallow of her cappuccino…to be honest, her third cappuccino.
"You alright there, Ace?" Logan asked as he gently patted Rory on the back. He'd decided to leave Colin's puzzling words for another time, a much later time. When he arrived at the bar, it was to witness Rory in the height of her coughing fit.
"It's karma." Finn nodded sagely.
Logan directed his gaze to Colin. "Karma?"
"Rory won't drink with Finn. Finn told Rory to fix the errors of her ways, she needed to consume a flaming shot. She refused, and nearly died by choking on her laughter," Colin announced as if it was the most obvious explanation known to mankind.
"Karma," Finn repeated.
"There could be a simple solution to this dilemma," Logan began. He turned to the bartender, "I'll have a scotch neat." He smiled while he waited for his drink to be poured. The other three were staring at him, silent.
"Thank you," Logan said as he took the drink from the bartender. He then turned to Finn and raised his glass. "To not drinking alone."
Finn smiled, eager for a toast with someone. "To the rules."
Rory smiled to herself as she watched the boys clink their glasses together before both took a healthy swallow of their respective beverages. She wasn't opposed to drinking, and honestly, it held some appeal for her tonight after all the chaos, but she knew she'd have to go back and deal with Paris. She would need every ounce of sobriety she could claim to deal with her. There was a feeling in the pit of her stomach that Paris would definitely miss her presence, and offering her Logan Huntzburger as a reason for leaving early would quite possible make Paris even more homicidal.
"Gilmore, I must say I'm impressed," Colin congratulated. He was trying to pull the attention of the group to him, hoping it would encourage Logan to find another place to stand. It appeared as though his warning had fallen on deaf or oblivious ears…probably both. The moment Logan had started making his way towards the bar, Rory had been his target; okay, she had been experiencing a rather intense coughing fit, but once the episode had passed, Logan's arm had not left her back. Logan, who was always anally cautious about his female interactions, seemed to unconsciously find ways to simply be near enough to touch Rory in socially acceptable ways. He didn't hold Logan wholly responsible for the predicament the pair would soon find themselves in, after all, Rory didn't appear to mind, or really even to notice the casual touches.
"Why's that, Colin?" Rory inquired.
"You've resisted Finn's rather incessant attempts to have you imbibe copious amounts of the great Dionysian elixir and you have resisted his efforts. This is not a feat accomplished by most."
"It's true," Finn said, sorrow in his voice. "I went to great lengths. I offered to spike her coffee with coffee. I attempted to pay the good man behind the bar to do it for me, but he listened to the words of the lady over my own."
"Kahlua?" Logan offered.
"Of course," Finn answered. "What better way to enhance the experience of drinking coffee than to make it alcoholic. Still, she refused. I think you're stubborn, love."
Rory nodded in agreement to Finn's somber pronouncement. He knew how to go from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other in a millisecond, but was always so endearing. She began to realize why Logan chose to spend his time with the two. Colin added a balance to Finn, and she suspected Logan's, daredevil behavior. Although she wouldn't go so far as calling Colin the voice of reason, he did have the air of one who at least mentioned the dangers involved in whatever random act the three were about to perform before joining in the adventure.
They stood out in stark contrast to her overly planned life. She felt draw n to the group, yet also a bit hesitant to be swept up in their whirlwind. When her mom said to take baby steps, she doubted she'd been thinking about the Dukes of Hazzard at the time. There was something infective about the trio, like she needed to be around them to breathe. Quite frankly, she didn't give a whole lot of thought to leaving with Logan when he asked, which went against the Rory Gilmore roadmap to life. It felt as though he was awakening something inside of her that was always there, but waiting for the right moment, or the right person.
She could claim Logan simply offered a better alternative to staying behind with Paris and her grandma, but that would be a grossly exaggerated statement. He didn't make sense to her. Maybe that was why she so eagerly agreed to leave with him; he was a puzzle she needed to decipher. It didn't make any sense for him to show up at her dorm for the wake. Even if he knew Professor Flemming, she doubted he would want to celebrate his not too surprising demise. Also, he brought his friends, which if he had come to see her, why bring the extra people? Was it strength in numbers thing? She had been mad at him earlier. Maybe the extras were insurance against her attacking him. Thinking about it now, he was probably smart to bring shields. She hadn't exactly welcomed him to the wake. Miss Manners would have been mortified by her greeting. Perhaps she should have that drink Finn kept trying to sneak into her coffee.
"Come on, Ace," Logan said as he poked her arm. "It's your turn."
"My turn for what?" Rory asked. She felt her face flush in embarrassment as she noticed all three of the boys were looking at her curiously. She'd completely blanked out on the conversation.
"Embarrassing drunken stories," Colin offered. "Finn's been dominating the conversation."
"I'm sure," Rory agreed, smiling.
"How 'bout it, love," Finn encouraged. "I'm sure you've got at least one story for us."
At first, she was going to simply tell them no. Given what they knew about her, they'd probably buy her story without so much as a shrug, but their mischievousness was rubbing off on her, and she was now finishing her third cappuccino. More baby steps, right?
"Spring break last year," Rory began.
"You have a drunk and spring break story, Gilmore?" An incredulous Colin asked.
Rory smiled knowingly. "Paris and I – "
"A Paris drunken spring break story?" Logan interrupted. He couldn't help it; the shock overrode the filter.
"Do you boys want to hear the story or not?" Rory asked imperiously.
"Ignore them, love. Tell Finn the story."
With a smile, Rory abridged. "At first, we weren't going to go with everyone to Florida. It was going to be a smelly van with smelly people, but we staged a protest, our first protest for something that we found important at the time, but we froze before we did much more than watch people look at us. At the last minute we caved, because Florida would be warm, and the cold had frozen the remainder of our brain cells. We get to Florida and spend the first day in the hotel room watching movies. Finally, Paris and I decide we need to experience it, so we went out to a club where we met up with Madeline and Louise, these girls we knew at Chilton, anyway, they were telling us how they were able to get boys to buy them free drinks and it was because they would kiss each other. Naturally, Paris and I thought they were absolutely crazy and we ignored them. Soon, things were boring and Paris decided we weren't doing spring break correctly, or something, so she kissed me in the middle of the dance floor in this club in Florida."
Three sets of eyes blinked at her. Colin appeared to be reigning in his amusement, Finn looked slightly impressed, and Logan…well, his mouth was hanging open. She drank in their expressions, pleased she could produce such a reaction from the group of renegades. At that moment, the reality of the story she just told three strangers landed on her. She could feel the color drain from her face.
"I'll be back," she said hurriedly.
Finn and Colin exchanged a confused, yet amazed, look. Neither had ever heard a person talk as fast as Rory. She'd basically told a two-day story in one breath. Add that to the shock of hearing about the kiss and you could've knocked the two over with a feather. Finn had been entertaining the idea that Rory belonged to some weird small town anti-drinking cult. Now he knew better. He now new Rory simply hid her more adventurous side, and forced people to get to know her before revealing that part of her personality.
Logan watched as Rory scurried towards the restrooms. He'd seen the shock, followed by horror on her face. Undoubtedly, she felt the need to recover from her story. Not that she should feel embarrassed, if anything, her story had just made her a hero to the group. Compared to the ribald stories Finn, Colin and Logan had shared, it was amazing she could feel anything other than relief at her tame, by comparison, story. While he was genuinely surprised that she'd kissed Paris, he still felt it was a pretty tame experience, especially when he was convinced Paris had been the instigator in the girl on girl action.
"Rory Gilmore is a god," Finn breathed, almost reverently.
Both Colin and Logan nodded their heads in silent agreement.
Emily Gilmore couldn't believe how much affection today's youth had for their professors. Paris was simply overwrought with sorrow for the recently departed Asher Flemming. While she found most wakes unseemly, Paris appeared to need the ritual of the event to begin or complete her mourning process. From the bits she could piece together, Paris had been in Oxford when the professor expired and had been helping the family to settle their affairs. A bit over t he top, but perhaps not for Pairs Geller. The girl was the most high strung individual Emily had ever met.
"Paris," Emily said, interrupting whatever diatribe Paris had been in the middle of telling her, "I hate to be rude, but I simply must get home. I have an overly busy day tomorrow, you understand."
"Oh Emily, it was just so good of you to come and honor Asher like this," Paris said, "thank you for coming."
And just like that, Emily Gilmore had been dismissed by a nineteen year old girl.
Before she left, Emily looked around the room for Rory. She hadn't seen the girl in several hours, but she also hadn't seen one Logan Huntzburger either. While it was poor manners, Lorelai's doing no doubt, to leave a party one was hosting without saying a word to anyone, she could understand the social blunder in light of a certain male. She had been overjoyed when she saw Rory socializing with someone of Logan's caliber. There were not many prospects for Rory in that backwater town her mother had whisker her away to early in life. Making contacts was vital to a young person's life; these years would define the rest of Rory's life. This was something Emily simply could not allow Lorelai to ruin. God knows they both wanted what was best for Rory, but Emily simply knew what was best for Rory.
Emily walked into the house, her mind spinning. She needed to act quickly before Lorelai had a chance to interfere with Rory and Logan's acquaintance. Once the two kids were solidly involved in each other's lives, she could relax. In order to make this successful, she needed assistance. This was Rory's future, it was more important than anything else going on in her life, including her challenges with Richard.
That resolution made, Emily marched over to the pool house. She was the matriarch of the Gilmore house, she would ensure her granddaughter had the opportunities he mother refused. Emily raised her arm to knock on the pool house door, but paused her air just hanging there. Maybe Richard wasn't home yet from wherever he decided to go to at seven thirty in the evening. She looked down at her watch; it was nearly nine thirty, surely he would be home by now. Even if he was still out at this unaccountably late hour, she needed to speak with him. If he was gone, she'd simply wait for him to come home. She allowed herself a small smile as she imaged the shock on Richard's face if he were to walk in with her laying in wait for him. She felt giddy at the thought, but quickly pushed the thought aside; she had more important matters to focus on tonight.
"Emily?" Richard asked as he opened the pool house door.
"Richard!" Emily exclaimed, shocked. She quickly smothered her shock as embarrassment flooded through her.
"Is everything alright?" Richard asked, concerned.
"Yes, everything is fine, Richard," Emily answered. She smiled at his concern. "We need to talk."
"Well, come in," Richard said. He spread his arm to usher his wife into the pool house.
"Thank you, Richard." Emily offered him a small smile as she walked into the pool room. She quickly surveyed the room, her critical eye for detail missing nothing. She really needed to have her maid talk to his valet about the atrocious living conditions. The assorted hobo furniture made the space practically a third world country.
"I'll get right to my point," Emily began, her tone all business. "It has come to my attention that Rory might have a chance to make some good connections, which her mother will no doubt discourage. We cannot allow this to happen; Rory's future is too important."
Richard nodded solemnly. He recognized the seriousness in Emily's tone, and fully agreed that anything relating to Rory's future of the upmost importance. He knew Emily cared about Rory's future as much as he did; they also felt that while Lorelai had walked away from the life there was no reason for Rory to follow her mother's misguided path.
"What connections has Rory made? And what can we do to bolster these connections?" Richard asked.
"I was visiting her tonight. Asher Flemming died, and Paris held awake in his honor," Emily explained. "Rory, of course, helped Paris hostess the event; there was a rather large number of students for a venue as small as their dorm common room."
Emily paused, lost in thought, "I'll have to give Paris my event coordinator's number." Seeming content with her decision, she continued to the point. "Logan Huntzburger was in attendance, and it appeared as though the two were at least acquainted with each other. Although Rory looked shocked to see him. Perhaps he is courting her, but even if he isn't, his father is Mitchum Huntzburger and with Rory's ambitions, it would be a vital connection to make."
A slow smile spread across Richard's face. Mitchum Huntzburger would be an excellent connection for Rory; he was top newspaper mogul in the world. He knew something of Logan's playboy tendencies, but he was young and no doubt acting out a bit. Youthful antics were to be expected from a person of Logan's standing. Rory would be exactly the type of person to have him leave his lady killer days behind and settled down.
"Logan Huntzburger," Richard said, almost reverently. "That is quite a fine connection, and you say they know each other?"
"It appeared that way. More importantly, before I left, I looked around for Rory to tell her I was leaving and I couldn't find her anywhere. I also couldn't find Logan anywhere." Emily leaned in, as if to tell Richard a secret. "I think she and Logan left together. The event was horribly run, and no good intentions could save it. I can hardly blame the girl for leaving the party, especially if Logan offered her an easy escape."
"Indeed," Richard agreed enthusiastically.
"I think we should encourage this match, Richard. We need to act quickly. If Rory is to continue her acquaintance with Logan, it must be solidified before Lorelai has a chance to ruin it. We both know she doesn't know how to navigate the social world Rory has entered into, and we've seen the boys she's allowed Rory to date," Emily paused as a shudder of revulsion swept through her.
"I agree. Lorelai means well, she loves Rory as much as we do, but this is simply beyond Lorelai's sphere. We must help her in this," Richard agreed.
"We need to be smart about this, Richard. Rory won't approve of us meddling in her life. Perhaps a large party with a select guest list. We could host it on a Friday night, inform Lorelai that she is not required to attend; I'm sure she'll leap a the chance to have her Friday night free of family obligation, and we'll simply tell Rory we'd love for her to come," Emily explained. She moved around the room, almost pacing, but not. Emily Gilmore did not pace.
"We could host Yale Alumni party, Emily. It would be appropriate, given my connection to the school and a reasonable excuse to invite Rory to attend; she is the next Gilmore generation at Yale," Richard added.
"Yes!" Emily exclaimed. "We will invite only those with eligible sons. It's not the most subtle of moves, but it is delicate, and it would guarantee Logan's attendance. Once he sees how sought after Rory his, it might give him a push in her direction."
"We need to do this soon," Richard said distractedly. He was looking for his planner, unsure of where his valet had moved it.
Emily nodded. "I'll check my schedule and begin working on the caterers and find an appropriate even planner."
"I'll call you tomorrow. I believe I left my planner at the office," Richard informed Emily.
"That's fine. I should leave you to get to bed, I know you have an early morning."
"Goodnight, Emily," Richard said as he escorted her to the door.
"Goodnight, Richard."
Here's another chapter for you! I loved Richard and Emily in the show, and wanted to showcase some of the events that I think made them fall in love with each other once again. As always, let me know what you think!