A/N: I don't own GG!

The Licking of Honey from Thorns

Lorelai stood outside her childhood home. The coffee in her hands the saving grace of the evening before her. Sure, to some it was simply dinner at the parent's house, in the world of one Lorelai Gilmore it was a one-way ticket to the third circle of hell. She smiled when she saw Rory's car dive up, the damn thing was so quiet.

"Why are you waiting out here?"

"Am I wearing the same outfit I was last week?"

"Um, are we on a game show?"

"No, and what game show would we be on?"

"I don't know, one like the one where they hide the cameras and get people to do silly things, or say silly things, or ask silly questions."

"And the verdict on my outfit?"

"How should I know?"

"You're my daughter."

"Right, because me being your daughter automatically means I'll know exactly what you wear each time we come to grandma's. I must have missed that chapter in How to be the World's Best Daughter When You're Mom's a Basket Case."

"Next time, just say no."

Rory walked past her mother and rang the doorbell to the Gilmore mansion. She looked back at her mother, who looked way too concerned about her outfit.

"Today, I almost kissed a boy I met at the wake Paris made me help her with," Rory said as Emily opened the door.

Eyes and mouth wide open, in an unappealing way, Lorelai glared at her daughter before following the group into the house.

"So I hear you have a boyfriend," Emily announced as she led the girls into the living room.

"How, mom?" Lorelai asked, amazed and terrified that her mother knew about her relationship with Luke.

"Kirk told me."

Rory frowned, confused, sharing the look with her mother.

"My Kirk? Stars Hollow Kirk? Kirk who hasn't started shaving yet, Kirk? How did you find out from him?" Lorelai asked, nearing a complete panic mixed with a long-overdue meltdown.

"He was there delivering something. And when I told him I was looking for you, he said you were probably at your boyfriend Luke Danes' house. Now why were you hiding it from me?"

"I wasn't hiding it from you. I just didn't tell you," Lorelai said, knowing there was no acceptable answer for her to give to her mother. Emily Gilmore would find something to berate her about, so she might as well do something proactive.

"Fine you didn't tell me," Emily said. "Why didn't you tell me, Lorelai? Are you embarrassed of this man? Is he not worthy of your mentioning him to your family?"

"I am not embarrassed of Luke!"

"Good. I want to meet this Luke Danes."

"And I'm sure one day you will…and you already know Luke, mom!"

"I want to re-meet him, in his new capacity…as your boyfriend. But only if he is a significant boyfriend, I don't want to waste my time if he is insignificant," Emily told her daughter.

"I don't see why you just can't meet someone once, mom," Lorelai complained. She so didn't want to expose Luke to her family this early in the relationship. In fact, she was hoping to never expose Luke to her family; she liked him, a lot.

"Next week," Emily announced. "You'll bring him to dinner next week."

"I'm not sure if we're free next week," Lorelai said.

"You're busy every evening, every hour of every evening for the next seven days?"

"Yes?"

"Next week, Lorelai. I'll get my book," Emily demanded as she left the living room.

"Okay, what just happened?" Lorelai asked Rory.

"Grandma wants to re-meet the people in her life. Maybe we should start wearing name tags to help her out," Rory offered.

"Don't be cute," Lorelai griped. "I'm mad at you."

"At me? I didn't ask to re-meet Luke, nor did I tell grandma you were dating Luke," Rory complained.

"No you didn't. You just told me you nearly kissed a guy you met at a wake!"

"It was your idea!"

"How was it my idea?"

"You're the one who told me baby steps, and that my first steps should take place at the wake Paris was holding."

"Did you nearly kiss him at the wake?"

"No!"

"Good because that would have been awkward. You really need to give mommy the full version of these stories, preferably before we walk into the Underworld," Lorelai told her daughter.

"I know; I just wanted you to stop talking about last week's outfit. I'll come home tonight, and we can talk about the boy," Rory offered.

After a long dinner at the Gilmore's, Rory and Lorelai were comfortably seated on their couch surrounded by enough junk food to kill a small village. Rory wasn't exactly sure what she was going to tell her mother about Logan. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to her, she did, she'd really missed telling her mother all of these parts of her life, but Logan was different. Logan was rich. Logan was a part of the world Lorelai despised.

"So, you met him at Paris' wake?" Lorelai prompted. She could tell Rory was uncomfortable talking about this, which bothered her. They had always been able to talk before…even when it had been uncomfortable. She wanted her daughter to know she would always be there, no matter what.

"Yeah, he saw me putting up the posters, and decided to come. He and his friends came. Actually, it was really great they showed up when they did because these guys with a keg showed up and Paris would have completely freaked out, so his friends made the keg leave. Then grandma showed up, and I left her alone with Paris at the wake while the boy and his friends and I all went to the Pub. Then I drank three cappuccinos, and regretted the third one by the end of the night, but I did avoid drinking, which apparently in their group makes me eligible to be their queen. Next week is sure to be the fitting for my coronation gown," Rory explained.

"You left your grandma alone with Paris? Have you seen Psycho? Did you learn from Psycho?"

"You're the one who told her I was there," Rory pointed out. "The thing is, mom, he's not my usual type."

"You have a type?"

"Well, first of all, he's blond."

"Oh no, stop now, he can't be blond! What will the neighbor's think?"

"He's more than just blond. He's crazy, and completely unpredictable. I can't keep up with him. And when he nearly kissed me it was after we'd had a sort of fight about nothing, but then he did the thing with his eyes, and I wanted him to kiss me. There was another blonde, and she interrupted us, and that's part of the problem. I can't date him."

"Because of the blonde?" Lorelai asked, highly confused.

"Because of the blonde, and the blonde before her."

"Ah," Lorelai said.

"Ah?"

"He isn't a boyfriend boy. And you are a girlfriend girl."

"Exactly, but I like him, and he acts like he likes me. You don't nearly kiss someone you don't like. And we see each other a lot. He's on the paper with me and he has these two friends that are so great, and he surprises me at the coffee cart," Rory babbled. "I can't like him."

"Sounds like it's a little late for that, babe," Lorelai pointed out.

Monday morning, Rory once again sat at her desk at the paper watching the cursor blink at her. She hadn't seen or heard from Logan since their encounter last week. She'd spent the weekend in Stars Hallow catching up with her mother and Lane, and fruitlessly trying to decide what to do about Logan. Unfortunately, she was no closer to a decision about him than she was to actual information for her article. Rory laid her head down on her desk, in a futile attempt to clear it. Once again she was the first person at the paper. With a sigh, she raised her head and was greeted by a large cup of coffee. Attached to the coffee was a post-it. She looked around the office, but still no one was there.

"'I have been instructed to offer you a proposition. Meet me at the Eli Yale bench in ten minutes, C'" Rory read aloud.

Ten minutes later, Rory stood by the bench waiting for C, whom she assumed to Colin. Sure enough, Colin strolled up to where she sat.

"Gilmore," he greeted.

"Colin, what's going on?" Rory asked.

"Logan asked me to give you a message about your article."

"Okay."

"We are prepared to give you an exclusive, but you must agree to a few conditions, the first being you can't know the conditions, and the second being you agree now or never ask again," Colin informed Rory.

Rory stared at him for a moment before looking away. This was crazy. The whole thing was nuts, it was just a stupid article for the paper. She had, however, made a resolution to be more adventurous, and what better reason to be adventurous than for a story?

"Are you in or out, Gilmore?"

"I'm in," Rory answered. When she looked up, Colin was gone.

"Was that really necessary?" she asked aloud.

Logan grinned as he heard Rory's exasperated question. He'd been lurking behind one of the buildings near the Eli Yale bench, watching Rory and Colin. Sure, the whole thing could be considered stalkerish, but he was back to his need for space mentality. After the near kiss with Rory, he couldn't take any chances. The girl he'd been with had thrown a fit, one that rivaled his mother when the decorator had hung the wrong curtains in the living room. She's spent the next week at a spa recovering from the "ghastly and horrifying experience". Middle of the alphabet named blonde had chastised him for the rest of the day. She'd pouted, and whined, and complained, and reminded him about the list. She also explained to Logan that Rory Gilmore was not on the list, and if she was she'd be at the bottom of the list. The most frustrating part of the girl's tirade was how similar it was to Colin's. The guy had told him to be careful with Rory, that he, and she, didn't know what they were immersing themselves in, but he'd ignored his friend.

Really, he shouldn't have invited her on the LDB event, but she'd asked for his help. Plus, she was a Gilmore-Hayden, even if she'd never lived the highlife, and should be a member of the prestigious, if a bit nefarious, Yale group. In fact, it was the fact of her lineage that Logan had used to convince Colin to agree with his plan. Colin maintained his stubborn stance that Logan shouldn't be finding more time to spend with Rory. While it might be a valid argument, given recent events, Logan still maintained his stance that Rory should be a LDB member. Eventually, and after convincing Finn (which was surprisingly easy, given his deep affection for the girl), Colin had come around to his way of seeing. Secretly Logan thought Colin was as attached to Rory as he was, for different reason, and hopefully in a different way, but knew Colin wouldn't admit that to Logan in the hopes that he would maintain his distance from Rory stance. If it wasn't a different way, it would put a strain on his friendship. He wasn't worried about Finn, after all, Rory wasn't a redhead; he smiled, Finn was definitely a character.

"If you start quoting Romeo and Juliet, I might hurl," Colin announced.

"We're not from feuding families, although you and the blonde from yesterday could do an interesting cameo of the Montague's and the Capulet's," Logan observed.

"Not interested in anything involving your insipid blondes," Colin informed Logan. "I do what I do because I want to avoid more scenes with blondes in the future. Rory deserves better than being attacked by the mindless string of women you are intent upon bedding before graduation."

"Look," Logan began as he angrily turned to face his friend, "I'm not the only one who parades beautiful, but empty-headed women around. You and Finn do the exact same thing…Finn can't even remember their names; all he knows is that they have red hair! I'm going to do this while I can, until mom and dad find the perfect Huntzberger wife, and fidelity is the only option."

"Of course you are, man," Colin sympathized, "I'm not saying to quit or that you shouldn't do what you're doing. What I am saying is that Rory is different, and you're dragging her along on a journey without a map, and it's not fair. Don't make the mistake of thinking you're the only one who cares about her."

"Then why were you against her joining the LDB?"

"It has nothing to do with the LDB, she can become our defacto leader for all I care, but Logan, she's going to get hurt if she stays around you. We don't want to see her get hurt," Colin answered softly. He knew the words would hurt, but Logan was being dense.

"Look, just make sure the instructions are where she will see them," Logan instructed as he began to walk away. "Oh, and Colin –" He waited until Colin looked at him. "Use something soft for the blindfold."

With a rueful smile, Colin nodded and left to carry out his chore.

Author's Note: I know there's not any Rogan in this chapter, but there is a method to my madness, or so my muse keeps assuring me. I also wanted to thank all of you who are reviewing and favoriting my story, it is great to have so many of you reading my fic!