Disclaimer: Not mine. If line sounds familiar, it is probably quoted from the original.

Chapter 15

"He got dumped two years ago. Apparently, it was a vicious Julia Roberts to Kiefer Sutherland kind of dump. She broke his heart, slept with his best friend, and took the dog. He swore off women completely until he met me, " recapped Paris her reunion with Doyle.

Doyle had shown up at their dorm, kicked out by his roommates because he was sick. He figured that Paris was pre-med and almost his girlfriend, she would take care of him.

"Wow, that was a lot of ground you guys covered last night." Rory responded supportively.

"He finally admitted, once his cough started coming back, that what we have, he no longer views as casual. He said we are officially in a committed -"

"Hey, I know that word," interjected Rory.

"- relationship and I'm not out of line, calling myself his girlfriend. Then, I handed him the NyQuil, and then he passed out," finished Paris, proudly.

"Very romantic," beamed Rory.

"I know," smiled Paris.

"I'm happy for you."

"I'm happy for me, too."

"Mr. Huntzberger," Paris greeted looking at the door as the Yale alumni entered, and she promptly got up from her seat next to Rory's desk. Rory looked at the man as well, but stayed seated.

"Hello, there," said Mitchum Huntzberger, taking note of the two young ladies. "Hello, Rory."

"Hi," said Rory politely and forced a small smile. She had only encountered the reigning Huntzberger in passing both at various functions hosted by her grandparents and in various praising articles.

"Paris Geller. We met a couple of months ago," said Paris as she abrasively shook his hand.

"I remember the handshake. Reminded me of Jimmy Breslin's."

"High compliment," responded Paris.

"Would you excuse us?"

"Oh, sure," Paris said, looking in between Rory and Mitchum before leaving.

"Are you looking for Logan?" Rory asked nervously. '

"No. I know better than to look for my son in the newsroom. I came to talk to you."

"Oh. About what?" Rory asked, hiding her surprise.

"Logan informed me that you have some lofty journalistic aspirations, and he recommended you."

"Recommended me?"

"Though Logan is a little naïve to the business game when he suggested you, I connected that with your grandfather's boasts, I think it would be a good idea."

"What's a good idea?" Rory was confused.

"My company just acquired a small newspaper, The Stanford Eagle Gazette. Decent circulation, pretty sorry writing, but definite potential. When we buy a new paper, I like to spend some time there, take a couple of months. Help turn it around, make sure we're getting our money's worth. Stanford isn't a bad train ride from here, is it?"

"Um, no," said Rory, not really catching up as to what Mitchum was suggesting.

"I have an internship available if you're interested."

"An internship?"

"It'd be a good chance for you to get your feet wet, experience how the real thing works. "

"No. Thank you," said Rory, feeling weird about this entire scenario.

" 'No, thank you"?" asked in response the shocked man.

"I appreciate the offer, But, no."

Mitchum Huntzberger was not a man that heard 'no' frequently after a presentation of a generous offer. It visibly baffled him after the moved to walk away. A few steps away, he turned around to implore, "May I be so bold, as to inquire, why the hell not?"

"Because I have a feeling that the only reason you're doing this is because of Logan recommending me or because of who my grandfather is. While it's nice, it's very unnecessary."

"So what?"

"Excuse me?"

"Say the only reason I offered this to you was because I want to get in good with my son and your grandfather. Say I have no interest in furthering your career. This is still an amazing opportunity for you. Who cares why you got the opportunity? It's here, and life is about making the most of everything you're handed."

Rory could not deny that Mitchum Huntzberger had a point. Who cared that Logan bent his father's ear about her, was she really going to turn down the opportunity to get into a professional journalistic environment just because she does not like the guy and his family?

"Well, this is being handed to you. Now, what are you going to do about it?" continued Mitchum persistently.

Rory was still thinking about it, but her expression had changed slightly as she was warming to the idea.

"Monday, 10 o'clock. Call my office for the details. And bring a pencil," said as he walked away from her desk. Before the door, he exclaimed loudly, "You never know when you're gonna need a pencil."

Unsure how to feel, Rory processed the offer, as she tried to reconcentrate on her articles at hand.

ooo

Rory heard it again; Paris was in their living room singing 'Walking on Sunshine' by Katrina & the Waves. Paris had been singing in the shower as of late, and quite loudly. Rory tried to tolerate it as much as possible but even she had her limits. At least this was a happy Paris not a depressed and mopey Paris so she was determined to let it slide.

"Hey!" Rory said to Paris as she walked into their communal space. Paris looked still towelling off as she held her hairbrush up to sing into it.

"What?"

"Learn a new song or I'm tying you to a chair and putting Hotel Rwanda on again."

"It's love, baby. Deal," said Paris, raising the hairbrush again.

"You're not gonna use that as a microphone, are you?"

"Oh, no, Reverend, has the town banned dancing and singing?" mocked Paris. "I'm really happy."

"Doyle, I assume."

"You know, he calls me his girlfriend now with no visible shaking."

"I'm happy you're happy."

"So, how are things with Marty?"

"You want to hand me that hairbrush?"

"Look at us. We're happy."

"This is infinitely better than any mood stabilizer I have ever been on."

There was a knock at the door.

"Oh, shoot. What time is it?" Rory asked.

"It's Hammer time," responded Paris.

"It's Marty. Hairbrushes down."

"You got it." Paris agreed and Rory was relieved as she got to the door.

"Evening Ror," said Marty.

"HI," Rory said as her smile grew wider.

Marty leaned in to kiss his girlfriend.

"Nice. Very Nice." Paris said from behind them.

"Hey, you want to see my room? It's far away from here."

"Super idea," agreed Marty, staring longingly at Rory and electrified by Rory's touch.

The duo hurried to Rory's room without another word and closed the door. As they grinned at each other sheepishly, they closed the distance. Marty's hand wrapped around her waist and her arms pulled him close by the neck.

"Hello."

"Hello."

"What are you thinking about?" asked Rory.

"Whether or not you've ever woken up with Paris standing over you with a knife."

"Not recently. She's been in a good mood."

"That's possible? Why's that?"

"Because she's in love."

"With Doyle?"

"Yes, with Doyle. And do not mock or make fun. Because when Paris is happy, the whole world is happy. But when she's not happy the whole world is deadwood."

"Oh, I remember when she did Ramadan. She was scary. Are you hungry?

"Always. I'm starving. Just let me get my sweater." Rory reached into her closet and pulled out a checkered dress. "Hey. What do you think of this dress? Does it look newspaper-y enough?"

"What?" questioned Marty, confused.

"I'm trying to figure out what to wear to my first day on the paper."

"Sure, you look good in anything."

"I want to look professional, but not too Lois Lane-y. And I don't want to look like a college kid."

"You are a college kid."

"Not on Monday. On Monday, I am a newspaperwoman. And I want to look the part."

"Whatever you pick out will probably be fine." Marty tried to be encouraging as he said this.

"I'm so excited," admitted Rory.

Marty came up behind Rory, wrapping his hand around her and kissed her neck. "I can tell."

"Last night, I couldn't sleep, and I Googled Mr. Huntzberger."

"Logan?"

"No, his father, Mitchum. 12, 053 items came up." Rory looked at the stack of paper on her desk. "I could only pull up a couple of thousand, but it really helped calm my nerves."

Marty placed another kiss on his smart girlfriend's soft skin. He was so proud of her. He was still wary of how the internship came to be, but she had a point in accepting it. He would have done the same thing, if he were in her shoes.

"He was born in 1953, Episcopalian. Second of four children, oldest boy. Yale undergrad, star of the track team. No grad school, interesting. Then he had a couple of lost years, kind of a blank period. A little Jesus thing going on there. Worked as a reporter and editor for two of the Huntzberger papers before taking over as CEO of the company. I mean, when you look at all of his accomplishments, the man must never sleep."

"I'm sure he does..." Marty interjected as he started kissing her neck, supportively. He loved that Rory researched everything down to the smallest details, even if it was for insignificant reasons in the end. It was what made her a great journalist and could create an interesting story on anything.

"Mm, four hours a night, just like Clinton."

Marty bent close to her earlobe to ask, "You didn't construct a wall in a secret room with pictures of this guy pasted all over it, did you?"

She giggled and leaned into him as she did so. Marty lived for her laughs. He smiled as he moved her hair out of the way to access more of her skin.

"No, but I'm going to be interning for him. I should know something about him other than how he takes his brandy. He seems to be a very roll-up-the-sleeves-y. But he's written about everything."

"Well, I'd say you are more than prepared. Now, I thought we've established we're both starving," said Marty attempting to pull her away from her research.

Rory twisted in his arms to face him and kissed him on the mouth. "Yes, we have."

"So, what are you in the mood for?" Marty asked before he kissed her sensually again.

"I think you know..."

"Fine, we can get Korean, but we are not bringing any back."

A big grin spread over Rory's face. "Ha! I knew I'd wear you down."

ooo

Author's Note: Sorry for the long space between postings. Working on getting into a schedule with it. I have said this but there are lots of chapters already pretty much written, they just need to be edited to my liking and polished up to post. So yes, Mitchum/ and the newspaper part are happening but there will be more Marty because this is reimagining that whole scenarios, but why wouldn't Marty be proud of her about the internship?