Rory watched Logan leave the room and heard the door slam downstairs. She didn't know where he was going to go but she didn't feel in any mood to follow him. She waited up a little to see if he would come back but after more than an hour had passed, she just couldn't keep her eyes open any longer and she drifted off to sleep.

She had been really surprised by the whole conversation and his reaction, not even being aware that it was something he might have been thinking about. Sure, she had thought about having more children at some point, she was pretty confident it was a certainty, but she had never really thought about when that might be or how far into the future she was actually thinking this would be.

A little while later Rory woke up when she heard Logan come back into the bedroom and slide into bed next to her. He didn't say anything as he pulled the covers up and so she turned around to face him in the bed to speak to him.

"Logan…I…" she started to say before he interrupted her.

"Forget it, Rory," Logan said turning over in the bed with a sigh "You made your feelings clear enough, we don't need to go over it all again. It's fine."

Rory sat up in bed and turned the light on.

"No Logan, it's not fine. We're not just going to gloss over this and stew about it for days on end. I want to deal with it now" she said firmly.

Logan looked at her and sat up in the bed.

"Logan, listen to me. I love that you want to have another baby, I really do and one day, when the time is right, I definitely want to have more children with you, hell we can have a whole hockey team if that's what you really want, but we're still so young. I'm still doing my PhD and I've not even begun to establish a career yet. I've already put everything on hold once, I'm not sure I want to do it again so soon" she said before she added, "This affects me so much more than it affects you."

"I don't know what you want me to say Rory," Logan said as he threw his hands up in the air.

Rory bit her lip. She didn't know what she wanted him to say either. She felt like they were at a bit of an impasse and she didn't like it one little bit.

"I don't think we're going to resolve this tonight…" she trailed off "…but I just wanted you to know that it's not because I don't want to have any more children, it's just that I'm not sure I want them yet. I love you Logan" she said as she gently touched his face with her hand.

"Okay" Logan forced a small smile. "Look, we're both tired, let's just go to sleep," he said as he lay down and closed his eyes.

Logan didn't know why her response to having another baby had affected him so much. He understood her reasons for not wanting to but it didn't mean that it didn't hurt him any less. Rory had seemed adamant that this wasn't what she wanted and he wasn't about to spend any more time trying to convince her that it was something they should do. He had to trust that when the time was right, she'd let him know.

Rory looked over at him and sighed before she reached over and turned off the light.

The next morning when Rory woke up, Logan was already downstairs having breakfast with Lily. Rory walked into the kitchen feeling slightly awkward. She wasn't really sure what the lay of the land was and the atmosphere in the kitchen was slightly unsettled. She did feel a little better however when Logan came over to where she was stood to fetch himself a cup of coffee to go. As he said goodbye he leant over and kissed her on the top of the head before he left the house for work.

Rory stood absentmindedly nibbling on a bagel as she stared out of the French doors into their garden. She was so sure last night that Logan was being a complete ass about it all but now in the cold light of day she wondered if she wasn't partly to blame for their current deadlock situation. She really needed to talk it over with someone – someone unbiased. Lorelai was out of the picture as Rory knew she would instinctively jump to her defense so she picked up the phone and called Lane. Lane might well be one of her very best friends but she knew that her friend would always be honest and truthful with her.

"Hey, Rory! How are you doing?" A happy-sounding Lane answered the call.

"Hey Lane. Sorry, I've not called recently, things have got a bit hectic, you know, with the wedding plans and everything. They're taking over my life."

"I can imagine" Lane laughed. "It was bad enough with my momma getting involved but you've got Lorelai, Emily and your in-laws to deal with! I don't envy you."

"Yeah," Rory said distractedly. "Look, Lane. I didn't really call you to talk about the wedding I just really needed to speak to you about something."

"Okay…" Lane said, she could tell by Rory's tone that something was up.

"Logan and I got into a fight last night…" Rory paused.

"How big a fight?" Lane asked carefully.

"A pretty serious one. He wants us to have another baby and I kind of freaked out and said no. Things aren't so good at the moment."

"Oh no!" Lane said. "I take it then that you're not keen on the idea?"

"I don't know. I mean, I want to have more children for sure, but I feel like I'm the one who has to make all the compromises. It's me that has to give up on following my dreams. I can't travel, I couldn't even take the job in Washington." Rory sighed. "Lane, you must kind of know where I am coming from, surely. I mean, you had to give up following your dreams didn't you?"

Lane took a deep breath. "Oh, Rory. Yeah, it's true that I am not living the exact dream that I once hoped I would, but I didn't give up my dreams to raise my kids. Raising my kids IS my dream now. You know this; your priorities have changed since having Lily right? I mean would you agree that her happiness and wellbeing have become infinitely more important than yours?"

"Of course. I would always put Lily first" Rory said without hesitating.

"Then you're completely aware of just how momentous creating this tiny new human being is and how it completely eclipses everything else and changes your view of the world."

Rory sighed. "Of course I am, Lily is incredible and I'd go to the ends of the earth for her, but I just feel like there's no happy medium and it feels sad to be abandoning my dreams after I held on to them for so long."

"I really don't think you should think of it as giving up on your dreams per se because that feels a little negative." Lane said. "For me, on a day-to-day basis, I am simply where I am. I love Zach, I chose to marry him and I choose to stay in this marriage and keep us moving forward. If I have to adjust my expectations a little to fit in with that, so be it, that's what a marriage is all about."

"Lane, am I being selfish?" Rory asked. She knew out of everyone she would always be able to rely on Lane for the truth.

"No, you're not selfish Rory, of course not, you have a lot going on right now. What I would say though is that dwelling on what you might be 'giving up' in order to have a family is not a very useful or healthy way to look at things. The reality is your life is a lot different than you imagined it to be but it doesn't mean it's not something equally great."

Rory wiped away a few tears that had escaped. "Thanks, Lane."

"I haven't helped at all have I?" Lane joked.

"No, you have, you've just given me a few more things to think about is all. Look, I've got to go, I have to get into town to meet the girls. We're going shopping for bachelorette outfits." Rory groaned.

"Oh have fun! Get something slutty!" Lane laughed.

"Now you sound just like my mother" Rory laughed "Are you sure you can't come too Lane, it won't be the same without you there."

"I'd love to but Zach will be on the road, there's just no way I can make it, but hey, we're having the bridal shower at The Dragonfly in a few weeks, that will be fun." Lane said enthusiastically.

Rory ended the call with Lane. She didn't particularly feel any clearer than when she started but she had definitely given her some food for thought.

"Hey girls, sorry I am late" Rory said as she walked up to where Juliet, Rosemary and Steph were waiting for her. "Her ladyship just didn't want to play ball today," she said gesturing down at Lily who was happily sitting in her stroller munching on a biscuit.

"Aww, Lily just gets bigger and more beautiful every time I see her" Juliet cooed at the little girl.

"She looks more like Logan every time I see her!" Rosemary said. "She's going to be a total heartbreaker."

"There's an element of schadenfreude isn't there, you know, for years people wanted to lock their daughters away from Logan, and one day he'll be trying to lock her away from boys just like him" Steph laughed. "and I can't wait to witness it!"

"Okay, we had better get started. Remember Finn said we had to look super hot and dress to impress" Juliet said.

"Don't worry, I know just the place" Steph announced, "Follow me".

Steph led them to a designer boutique where she was on first name terms with the owner. They spent a couple of hours trying on dozens of different dresses in every color imaginable but in the end, they all decided to opt for little black dresses, with each one being a completely different style to suit their figure and personality. The girls managed to convince Rory into buying a dress, which was nothing like she would normally choose. It was very daring, very sexy and she knew that Logan would absolutely love it.

As the girls twirled in their dresses, Rory sat staring out of the window, looking out at the busy street outside. The others could tell Rory wasn't it but weren't really sure why or how to approach her about it. Rosemary signalled to Steph to do something.

"Well now we've all got a killer dress for the bachelorette, why don't we go and grab ourselves a glass of champagne to celebrate?"

Steph led them out of the boutique and down a little side street to a quiet wine bar that she'd been to many times. Once they were all seated with their drinks Steph went in for the kill.

"Okay Rory, c'mon, what gives?" she asked.

"Huh? Rory said a bit puzzled.

"You've been somewhere else all this time," Steph said.

Rory took a deep breath. She knew that she was being a terrible shopping companion but she didn't really want to get into all the details now. "Oh, I'm sorry. It's nothing, I'm just not really feeling it today."

"Rory…" Rosemary said. "Talk to us"

"Okay, it's just…well, Logan and I had a fight last night and I guess I am still reeling from it a little."

"Everything's okay now though right?" Juliet asked with concern.

Rory wrinkled her nose "Kind of, I guess, things were a little weird this morning…"

"Weird, how?" Steph asked.

"He just wasn't himself," Rory said. "It was a bit awkward."

"That's just Logan," Steph said "You know what he's like, he'll blow off some steam and he'll be back to mauling you 24/7 before you know it" she laughed as she drank the rest of her champagne.

"Here's hoping" Rory smiled as Steph topped up their glasses.