Today I baked carrot cake muffins and wrote this.

Disclaimer: I do not own GG

And just like that Rory Gilmore was back in his life.

For the past four months, he'd been fighting her in every way possible. Her stuff? Packed up by a maid and shipped across the Atlantic. Finn's quips? Ignored. Images of her - the good ones, the smiles, the shine in her eyes, her hand raised and ready to answer his questions, all of them were banished to the depths of his mind, while he let the bad ones stew; those were the ones he battled with.

Logan had let them take over and made them something they weren't. It was easier to let them define and overshadow his entire co-existence – 'relationship' was too big of a word – with her. It was easier to theorize that he'd always been fighting her, from those first flirty moments of tantalizing battle to all of those stupid Mitchum imposed rules.

The image of an evil monster lost its harsh edge as soon as he saw her at the Breakfast Social. For the tiniest moment, she was just Birkin, Ace, Rory. And she was sorry and oddly peaceful in the sense that she seemed okay with the aftermath and ready to cope.

It was a maturity that he'd yet to see and he was too afraid to trust. For sure Mitchum arranged something; her shocked expression told him otherwise. She may be an actress, but even she wasn't that good, but he'd given her the benefit of the doubt anyway.

Logan was sure Mitchum played a role in this. He had a sleepless night trying to figure it out but by morning he hadn't reached a satisfactory conclusion. As he continued to let the theories swirl in his mind during the short walk to the HPG Office, Finn rambled on about his latest love interest. Logan knew Finn long enough to know all of the appropriate places to nod, and sigh, and hum in approval.

She had the prettiest red hair he'd ever seen. Nod-nod. Her name was Aubrey Andrews. Hum. Of Andrews Urban Designs, the guy who designed the country club? Nod. Mitchum had invited her and her dad had to convince her to go, because she doesn't really like the big city. Sigh. And her skin? And those eyes? Sigh. So perfect. Hum.

"Oi, Mate!" Finn stopped suddenly and his voice dropped to a whisper, "there's Rory!"

Logan didn't need Finn to point that out for him – he'd seen her, arms resting casually on the banister of the landing overlooking the lobby, observing the hustle and bustle of the HPG morning crowd.

He couldn't help but notice how regal she looked standing there, in her gold-buttoned green pea coat, for all of the eye can see under her command.

"Be nice," Finn warned as they approached her. Logan shot Finn a sideways glance and huffed.

"Hello love!" Finn's pleasant tone startled her but she put on a brave face. "Hey, um, hi."

"Forgot we'd be joining you?" Logan asked coolly, but he added a small smile as he felt Finn's warning eyes on him.

"No, I didn't…" Rory trailed off, awkwardly biting her bottom lip and looking away. Her tone lacked the edge his had and even though Logan could tell she wanted to say more, she wasn't going to.

She really looked done; he'd won. She wasn't going to try to change his mind or win him back or apologize any longer.

He cocked his head to the side as he sighed. "Look, Rory…" He ran a hand through his hair, before resting his hand next to hers on the bannister. Her gaze shifted from the floor to his hand, so close next to hers, but still too far away to touch. "I just really want to keep this professional…"

"Me too."

"So, whatever happened in London and in Mitchum's office…" He shrugged, looked away and drew in a sharp breath, "I don't want to add unnecessary drama to this Planning Group…"

"Me neither."

"So…"

"…maybe we should just start over?" she suggested, and he hated that she beat him to the punch. As if it gave her control.

Besides, they weren't supposed to have to start over. A long time ago, in that sandwich shop across the street, he'd promised her it was the last time they'd have to (whoever thought of three times the charm was clearly out of his mind).

He gave her a wry smile, "Strictly professional."

Her nod confirmed their agreement and Logan let go of the bannister. "What happened to Finn?"

"Um," Rory looked around, but the boy was nowhere to be found "wasn't he just here?"

Logan shrugged and a tiny chuckle escaped him. "Maybe he wanted to get a good seat in the conference room? It's down this hall and to the left…"

He started walking and she followed him. To the outside world, they looked like two co-workers on their way to a meeting.

Strictly professional.

Finn was seated next to the porcelain-skinned girl. "That's why we couldn't find Finn," Logan whispered to Rory as they entered the room and she couldn't help but smile at this bit of information he divulged to her.

"Hey Finn," she said as she sat down in the empty seat next to him, while Logan took the empty seat next to the girl.

"Oh, hey, hi," Finn stumbled, caught off guard, before laughing at his own awkwardness. He cleared his throat. "Aubrey, I'd like to introduce you to my good friends…" he tipped his head forward, "Mr. Logan Huntzberger…" and gestured "Miss Rory Gilmore."

Aubrey leaned over and shook Logan's hand. "Aubrey Andrews, so very nice to meet you, Logan."

"The pleasure's mine," Logan replied, suppressing a smirk. This perfectly poised girl was so very different from Finn's usual type.

"Rory, I believe we've met?" Aubrey asked, as she turned to formally introduce herself to Rory. Both of the boys heard that Aubrey's tone had cooled considerably.

"Hmm, yes, we have, at the breakfast social the other day," Rory gestured vaguely, before shaking Aubrey's hand. "It's so nice to meet you."

"Right," Aubrey nodded, dragging out the word in her Southern drawl, making it sound as if she wasn't so sure.

Finn exchanged an uneasy glance between the members of the group. "Aubrey's dad designed all of the country clubs between South Carolina and Connecticut," he offered.

Rory's eyebrows shot up – she knew that girl was from Society! – and her eyes flickered with recognition. "That wouldn't be Bobby Andrews, would it?"

"Yes..." Aubrey eyed her suspiciously, "...but most folks know him as Robert Andrews. You've met?"

"'Rory isn't most folks," Logan muttered, but Rory chose to ignore it. "Just once," she shrugged instead, smiling a little at the memory. "He helped my grandfather design an astronomy building. They kind of donated it to Yale in my name."

"Impressive," Logan chuckled sarcastically, "What they call it? The Rory Gilmore Astronomy Building?"

At Rory's silence, Logan laughed a little louder. "You're kidding?"

"Oh, Logan," Aubrey grinned, "you know Bobby Andrews doesn't do words like Mitchum!"

Logan shrugged but couldn't hide his surprise. "You know Mitchum?"

"Just by acquaintance," Aubrey rolled her eyes, "daddy thought it'd be good for his little girl to taste some big city life..."

"So what's your talent?" Logan asked bluntly, "For the NIPG, I mean?"

"I design clothes," Aubrey shrugged as if it didn't really matter, "I suppose Mitchum thinks I'm very creative…"

"Me too," Finn chimed in. "I'm creative! And Rory and Logan know the industry to the core. With their knowledge and our creative minds, we'll be like the fantastic four."

Rory looked away uncomfortably and Logan rolled his eyes, but Aubrey smiled and her eyes sparkled. "Perhaps."

Logan glanced around the room; there were fifteen people at most and he recognized the better part of them from various corporate functions over the years. Some were from IT, others from Marketing or Content, but all were from HPG. So much for the promised diversity.

Aubrey was here because Mitchum did Bobby Andrews a favor, just like he'd allowed Finn to join as a favor. The only reason Logan was here was because Mitchum presented him with an offer he couldn't refuse. Mitchum must've offered Rory something. But what? And why? He wasn't selfless, he'd want it to be beneficial for him, too. And Logan was doubtful that the NIPG would actually produce a plan that could actually work.

A plump white haired woman entered the room. "Hello!" she shouted and the chatter died down.

"Good morning, lovelies," she said, "Most of you should know me as Marci, the comfortably chubby lady with the crazy white hair, who works for the scary man in the corner office…" she smiled as the group laughed a little, "…and I'm here to give you your work instructions, provide you with some hot delicious coffee and herbal tea, for those who don't drink coffee – I'm looking at you, Logan dear."

Logan threw his head back in laugher. "But you like the view, don't go denying it, Marci!"

"Ooh, you just put the smirk away. It's distracting!" She waved her hands around, "And you can't afford distractions. You've got work to do!" She handed one of the IT-people a stack of papers and told them she'd be back to let them know when they could go on lunch before leaving the room.

"Well, alright," Logan said as he took one of the papers off the stack, "let's do this."

It was one o'clock before Marci signaled it was time for a well-deserved break. Logan smiled gratefully at Marci and directed himself to the group.

"Alright, great job this morning. We'll carry on this afternoon."

After a brief introduction round, it was obvious that Logan was to take the leader role. It made sense, as he had the experience but more so because it was clear none of the clowns his father asked to join the group were really competent. It turned out they'd all been selected for their "creative talent", which further cemented Logan's suspicion that Mitchum was up to something.

Finn and Aubrey seemed blissfully unaware, but he could tell that Rory was somewhat disappointed with the way the NIPG turned out. Mitchum must've painted her a beautiful picture, while in reality it was a paint-by-numbers masterpiece. Logan knew, because Mitchum had told him the same.

Regardless whether his volunteering for the leader role stemmed from masking his disappointment about the program, or to stave off thoughts of Rory, he was determined to make the project group successful.

The group shuffled out of the conference room and down the hall to another, which had been turned into a lunch room. Mitchum had decided that lunch would be catered and that the team would break together, supposedly so that if one of the members had a sudden breakthrough the group could get back to work.

On paper, it sounded doable, even if a little compulsive, but to Logan it was just more mandated time he had to spend with Rory. Strictly professionally, of course.

He quickly grabbed a cream cheese and cucumber sandwich, a bottle of water and an apple and joined the small group of guys Finn was eating with.

"Where's Aubrey?"

"Bathroom," Finn replied, before taking another bite of his roast beef sandwich, "Mitchum's really knows where to get a good sandwich, huh?"

"There from this place across the street," Logan shrugged, "I'm pretty sure Marci picked 'm out."

And before Logan could ask Finn if he noticed anything weird about this whole set-up (when had Mitchum ever catered a normal work-day lunch before?), one of the IT-guys joined in with a funny story about Marci.

Women's restrooms were dangerous places. It was here where the line between competiveness and kindness was the finest. In an emergency, even your worst enemy would probably pass a tampon under the bathroom door stall. Nevertheless, friendships could break after a single restroom visit – ill-timed gossip – but often times, unbreakable bonds were formed over bathroom counters.

Rory and Aubrey silently stood at the sink, washing their hands. Every so often, one would look in the mirror to sneak a peek at the other.

Aubrey seemed like a sweet girl, but Rory couldn't figure out why she'd been so cold to her. Smiling wryly, she realized that she'd probably heard the gossip and understood that Rory Gilmore was not the type of girl good-girls like Aubrey Andrews should associate with.

"It's true," Rory said suddenly, breaking the silence and she caught the girl's confused expression. "Everything you've heard about me, that's all true."

Her words echoed in the otherwise empty bathroom and Rory watched as Aubrey's two perfect copper-colored eyebrows furrowed as she dug around in her make-up bag. A triumphant smile flashed briefly as she found the lipstick she was looking for.

"I haven't heard anything about you, nothing that'd I'd hold against you at least…" she smirked, before popping the cap off the tube of bright red Estee Lauder. "The police would've been at my house to arrest me for murder if some guy cheated on me at my party."

She let out a small chuckle and proceeded to touch up her lips.

"Oh." Rory fiddled with her silver necklace. "I just thought…"

Aubrey turned to her and placed her hand on her shoulder. "Finn's not your boyfriend, is he?"

"Finn?" Rory choked out, taking a step back, "Never, not in a million years!" Catching the offended expression that was creeping across Aubrey's face, she backtracked a little. "I didn't mean it like that. Finn's a really nice guy – too nice, really, but um…." She trailed off, not really wanting to get into the twisted details of their relationship, "…I guess he's like a brother to me."

"Oh." A sheepish smile tugged at Aubrey's lips.

"Why?"

Aubrey tossed her lipstick back in her make-up bag and tossed that in her Gucci bag. "No reason," she shrugged. "Do you want to get lunch together?"

Logan was thoroughly bored with the conversation at his table and Finn wasn't providing any relief as he'd been staring at a table at the far side of the room, while Logan did his best to avoid it.

Aubrey and Rory were having lunch together.

Just another thing Logan couldn't figure out. This morning they were two society queens, polite but ice dripping from their tones and now they were BFFs. He heard Finn sigh a dreamy sigh.

"Just go talk to her, man. You are drooling all over your sandwich and I'd still like to eat mine."

Finn turned back to Logan, cocking his head to the side. "Nothing's wrong, Finn," Logan said in answer to Finn's not-asked question. "Just go talk to the girl."

Shaking his head, Finn pushed back his chair and made his way across the room.

"Ladies," he said, casually leaning against the table, "how's lunch?"

Aubrey put down her BLT and patted her mouth with her napkin before looking up at Finn. "It's delicious. Mitchum really takes good care of his employees, doesn't he?"

Rory looked down at her not-enough-ham-and-cheese sandwich. "Wherever Marci ordered these, their meat-to-vegetable ratio is way off."

Finn sighed a little as Rory echoed Logan's sentiments, but he smiled at Aubrey. "Miss Andrews, I could talk to you all day, but would you mind if I stole Rory away for a moment?"

Her gaze dropped to Rory and she shook her head. "Not at all. You may even take my seat – if you excuse me, nature calls." She shook her empty glass around. Finn nodded understandingly and, like a gentleman, he helped her with her chair.

Rory noted the meaningful glances they exchanged, but waited to comment until he sat down.

"So," Rory drew out as she leaned her elbows on the table, "Aubrey, huh?"

Finn couldn't suppress the immediate grin. "But that's not why I came over here, love."

Rory raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Not the only reason."

"I see."

Finn cleared this throat and put his eyes on her, signaling it was serious. "I wanted to apologize."

"Apologize?"

"For a couple of things…"

"Finn…" Rory exhaled deeply, as if to expel the guilt that bubbled up inside . "You couldn't have stopped me at that club. Once I got it into my head that that Greek guy was coming home, not even Logan on a white horse could've changed my mind."

"I know," Finn nodded. "But I should've called… I was with a girl about the same time you were with the Greek."

"Scotland?"

He laughed a little uneasily at the memory. "Turns out she was just from London and absolutely out of her mind. She couldn't stop calling, she'd leave messages describing what she had for dinner…"

"Well, your pretty irresistible," Rory said with a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

"I had to get a new phone and I lost your number."

"Finn, I know you're on Logan's side…" she covered his hand with her own and patted it. "I get it. You don't have to make up a story."

"It's not a story!"

She let go of his hand and crossed her arms – in the grand scheme of things it didn't really matter if he was telling a story or not, Finn hadn't called. But maybe he should have, if he really was that sorry.

"You could've found my home phone number or my address…" she suggested off-handedly and suddenly her tone turned bitter. "Or slipped in a note with those boxes Logan sent."

Finn coughed at the sudden harshness. "He was not well when he made that decision."

Rory's eyes grew wide as her instincts kicked-in. "You called Mitchum."

"He told you? He wasn't suppose to!"

"Before he flew off to London for the quarterlies…." Rory nodded deeply as all of the dots suddenly connected. Finn's phone call was what prompted Logan's invite to the NIPG. Not giving her one last chance to break out of the DAR, not to release Logan from his contract.

It was just a ploy to get them together.

Shock grew to absolute horror as Finn listened to Rory's explanation. "Oh, love, I hadn't realized he'd plan this elaborate program and invite Logan, too! I just thought he'd have a rational talk with his son."

"Mitchum and Logan don't talk," Rory shot back and Finn sighed. "I can see that."

The two shared a moment of silence, each analyzing this bizarre situation they found themselves in.

"He thinks I'm the one who convinced Mitchum, you know…"

Finn knew if he fessed up to Logan, their friendship would be bruised (not broken), but more importantly, Logan would call the whole thing off. Rory knew that, too. Though for her ditching the program might be sweet relief, for him it'd be horrible.

"So what if Logan calls it off? We're not doing anything, Finn!"

Finn studied her annoyed face. "You'd rather go back to the DAR?"

Her head dropped to her chest. "No!" And she looked up, "but this is a waste of time!"

"Not for me," Finn said earnestly, as he scanned the room for his porcelain-skinned princess while Rory looked over her shoulder and saw a solemn looking Logan picking at his sandwich.

"Alright," Rory gave in with a heavy sigh. "Don't tell him. It's only 8 weeks - it's...it'll be ok."

"Thank-you, love," Finn smiled brightly. "Besides, he might come around."

"We've decided to keep it professional for the sake of the program," Rory announced numbly, but Finn could only muster a hum of disbelief as he caught Aubrey's smile.

"And I suggest you do the same," Rory muttered under her breath.

Alright. So! Rory and Finn are back to being friends and they are both on to Mitchum, but also quite content to play along (Finn more than Rory, obviously). And poor Logan only suspects. But my boy is smart and confrontations all the way around are bound to happen.

Thanks so much for all the love in the reviews! Totally makes me smile! Review if you think Miss Aubrey is gonna break Finn's heart.