A few days later, Rory found herself meeting Stewart and his parents for brunch. She had not seen Stewart since the middle of the week and it had been quite a while since she was in the presence of his parents. It wasn't that she disliked them - she just didn't know them that well. They lived in Boston and they didn't all spend much time together.

As Rory exited her car at the valet stand, Stewart met her. "Hi, babe," he said as he dropped a quick kiss on her lips.

"Hey! I've missed you," she said as she hugged him. "How's work been?"

He smiled at her and said, "Pretty good. Emergency is a different kind of rotation. Lots of quick thinking and injury, less complicated diseases, you know..." he said with a shrug.

She chuckled and said, "Well, I can imagine, I guess."

He slipped his arm around her waist and said, "Really, its so good to see you. How is that big story you've been working on?"

She grinned, "Its just so interesting and I've been really digging into the research. I can't believe I get to do this for a living!"

He beamed at her, "I'm just so proud of you!" He held the door open for her and they noticed his parents in the lobby. Everyone greeted each other with hugs and kisses.

"Rory, its lovely to see you," Bernard Anderson exclaimed.

"Thank you," she replied. "Its lovely to see you both," She said with a smile.

Once they were all seated and had ordered a bottle of wine, Karen asked Stewart, "So, is everything going okay? With work?"

"Its is, Mom. Thanks, but how are you and Dad? Tell us what you've been up to," Stewart deflected as he held Rory's hand under the table.

Karen and Bernard Anderson launched into a very long story about a garden party they had recently attended, complete with pornographic topiaries. Rory finally had to inquire, "Really? Pornographic?"

Bernard almost spit water across the table when Karen finally had to say, "Well, they might as well have been. They were THAT hideous."

Rory nodded, "Yes, of course. Topiaries can be that way," she replied with wide eyes. Boredom glazed over her face as she desperately made an effort to pay attention to what these people were talking about. Finally after she finished her salad, she excused herself to the restroom before the main course arrived.

As she dried her hands on the way out, her phone chimed. Finn sent her a pic of the three of them at lunch from a couple days ago. She smiled and saved it. She sent back a heart emogee and returned to her table. As she got there, she overheard the conversation going on.

Karen said, "Yes, but what do you know about this girl really? Does she even have any values? Stewart!"

Stewart said, "Mom, you need to stop. And you need to be quiet. I do not want Rory to hear you talking about this."

Rory decided not to eavesdrop and walked into sight and reclaimed her chair. As she replaced her napkin in her lap, she asked, "You don't want Rory to hear what?"

Karen sighed and said, "Well, you may as well know, I've learned about your dalliance with the young Huntzberger heir."

Stewart didn't give Rory a chance to respond, "Mom, you're being rude. This is none of your business."

Rory took a sip of water as she decided what to say to the woman who was going to be her mother-in-law soon. "Well, I don't think dalliance is a fair assessment," she said as she frowned. "He was my boyfriend for years. I don't appreciate your tone," she said as she lowered her voice. "I have to ask, why is my college relationship the topic of conversation?"

Karen's face turned red with anger as her husband sipped his drink slowly and silently. He was used to his wife's opinion and he wasn't getting in the middle of any of it. Stewart interjected, "Yes, please tell us why we have to discuss this."

"You two are about to marry. You need to know about her past and what sort of PEOPLE were in her past." She pronounced 'people' in the same tone she might have said 'trailer park.'

Rory became frustrated and said, "Unless you have personal knowledge of Logan, I don't think its fair that you judge him. He's a lot more than what you read in the tabloids."

Stewart spoke up, "I meant to tell you, I actually met Logan a few days ago."

"What?!" Rory asked. "How in the world..." She put her hand to her forehead and tried to make sense of everything.

"Well, it was the weirdest thing. He came in with a patient - I can't talk about the case - privacy laws and all, but we talked. He was really nice," Stewart said.

Karen shrieked, "YOU bothered talking to Logan Huntzberger? Why?"

Stewart rolled his eyes at his mother while his father waived away the person who had come to take their order. "Because I was at work and I'm a nice person and he was a nice person too. Why in the hell are you stuck on this? Mom, what's your deal? And you owe Rory an apology."

"Rory, I'm sorry you had a clandestine relationship with a degenerate that you tried to hide from my son!" Karen said coldly.

"Mom! I've told you before that Rory didn't hide anything from me. And I don't have anything against this man. As a matter of fact, I spoke to him for about 2 minutes but he seemed fine. You need to stop!" Stewart continued to defend Rory and her previous life choices.

Rory pursed her lips at the insanity happening in front of her. She finally asked, "What makes you think its okay to speak to me this way? I've been nothing but respectful to you, your family and your son. If you have questions about my life, that's fine but you can't speak to me like this," she said evenly as she gave the older woman an icy stare. "So go on and ask whatever you want to know. I have nothing to hide."

Bernard put his glass down with wide eyes. He had never witnessed anyone challenge his wife in such a polite way. This was going to be a fun night.