I half expected Shira to follow me as I left, so I marched myself right back into the ballroom where I figured I'd be safest. She wouldn't make a public scene, would she?

Not two steps in the doors I literally ran into Logan, "Hey, Ace, I was just going to come looking for you…" He took a second to register how worked up I was, "What's wrong?"

I took a steadying breath, grateful that Logan was half holding me up with his hands on my shoulders, "Nothing, just had a little run in with the host…"

I could see his temper start to flare, so I cut him off, "It's fine… Don't..."

"Rory, if she…"

"Really, Logan…" I did a quick inventory of my well-being. She'd gotten in a few shots, but I'd had the last word. "I'm fine… a little vindicated actually."

He wasn't totally sold. "You sure?" I nodded. His hands dropped from my shoulders and he wrapped me in a hug. "You ready to get out of here?"

I looked up at him surprised. I thought we'd be here all night, being that he's one of the guests of honor.

He read my thoughts and shrugged, "We've been here for hours, people are starting to leave. Everyone else is drinking, they won't notice that we're gone…"

I'm not sure how serious he was, but it made me smile anyway. "If you're sure…"

He grabbed my hand and headed back to the table. He retrieved his jacket from where it had been draped over the back of his chair.

"We should find my grandparents. I feel bad they came all this way and we barely saw them."

"Did you see Emily's face? She was glad to do it."

I knew Logan was right, but I still felt a pang of guilt as we found them in conversation with yet another couple that I could tell Grandpa was less than thrilled to be talking to.

"Hello, you two…" He was obviously glad to see us. "Enjoying yourselves?"

"The Beauforts here were just telling us about the bomb the two of you dropped on the red carpet this evening…" Oh that. Yes, I suppose word would be getting around. "Not that we were surprised, we know Logan…"

Logan bit back a smile, "Guilty." He looked adoringly at me, "Can I be blamed for not wanting to keep the news to myself?"

Mr. and Mrs. Beaufort was no match for Logan's charm. I swear Grandma was about to explode with giddiness. We graciously accepted their congratulations before they bid us adieu for the evening.

"Why didn't you tell me you announced it already?" Grandma wasn't mad, perse, but she did not appreciate being left out of the loop.

"Well, we didn't exactly plan it, and we haven't had a…" It seems our chance to talk would have to be postponed once more. Shira had finally tracked us down. She had on a serene face, but there was a hint of something in her eyes; we could all see it.

Thanks to the thinning crowd, and our relative seclusion from any other groups of people, I guess she felt like this was her chance. Smelling ever so slightly of cigarette smoke she leaned in to Logan, "Logan, Dear, can we have a word?"

He didn't budge. "What is it, Mom?"

If she pursed her lips any harder I'd be worried about them pinching right off of her face. "A word, alone? It will only take a..."

Grandpa interjected, taking us all by surprise, "I'm not sure now is the best time to…"

"All due respect, Richard. I'll speak to my son when I see fit."

Oh shit. I was expecting Grandma's claws to come out any second, but Mitchum appeared beside us before anyone could say anything, "Shira…"

"Not now, Mitchum." It was the first crack in her loving wife facade I'd seen all night, betraying her vitriol.

"Shira, that's enough." Not that I was ever on board with a husband speaking down to his wife like that, I had to agree with him here.

"Mitchum, I will not stand by and…"

"And what, Mom?" Logan stepping up to the plate... "Let me be happy? Marry the woman I love?"

He hadn't raised his voice too much, but the commotion had definitely been enough to attract a bit of attention. As mad as she was, she knew when to save face. Her voice was low, almost menacing, "We're not finished discussing this."

Logan shook his head. I knew full well that if he had his way, they'd have it out right now, other people be damned. Old Logan would have, at least. Instead he put his arm around my waist and said with chilling calmness as we walked away, "You might not be, but we are. Goodnight."

I heard my grandparents hastily say their goodbyes to the Huntzbergers and follow us, but I didn't dare look back until we were at the door. I could tell, even from across the room that Mitchum had some stern words for his wife.

Back in the foyer after we'd all caught our breath, Grandma was the first to speak, "Well, wasn't that eventful."

I rolled my eyes, still a little bit in disbelief that Shira had actually lost her cool at her own event. We all stood there for a moment, at a loss for what to say.

"Emily, I think it's time we called it a night." Leave it to Grandpa to know what to do.

"Yes, I suppose you're right…"

"Are you staying the night?"

"Yes, we booked a room upstairs. We'll head home in the morning."

"Thank you so much for coming. It…"

"Don't mention it." Grandpa's dulcet tone was comfort enough.

"You two do look wonderful tonight." Grandma couldn't help herself.

We said our goodbyes and I promised to call them later. They headed for the elevators and we went to retrieve my purse from the coat check. There were two couples ahead of us in line, I leaned wearily against Logan's shoulder as we waited.

"Doing alright, there?"

I grumbled; he chuckled a little, kissing me on the forehead. I let myself zone out a little, trying to decompress from the evening while Logan called for the limo to pick us up.

Not intending to eavesdrop, I caught a tiny bit of the conversation from the couple in front of us, "...you guys could use more of that over at The Times, you know, a little irreverence." The man was obviously joking, but it was what the woman said next that really caught my attention.

"I edit for The New York Times, Ginsberg, not The Onion. Can you imagine a headline like that running in International News? The letters to the editor would be out of control…"

International News at The Times? I picked my head up and paid attention. Is it possible that the editor that just ran my article two days ago was standing right in front of me? I was trying to listen for more information when Logan hung up the phone and noticed my attention was somewhere else.

The other couple handed their tags to the coat checker. I was half heartedly hoping she would give her name, not that I would have recognized it, but I wanted something to confirm my suspicions.

Poor Logan was lost, wanting desperately to catch up. I mouthed as subtle as I could that I thought a New York Times editor was standing right in front of us. He caught on.

The checker handed them their belongings and they began to walk toward the door. My window was closing. Logan was watching me let her walk away and suddenly I felt him push me toward them while he turned to the check desk.

Barely staying on my feet, I clumsily cleared my throat, "Um.. excuse me?"

The couple turned around. Don't panic, just introduce yourself. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to overhear your conversation before, but are you an editor at The Times?" That wasn't too creepy, right?

"Um, yes…" She was clearly unsure of where this was going.

Save it, Gilmore, come on. "My name is Rory Gilmore, I think you just published one of my pieces the other day."

She looked thoughtful, "Gilmore? That WikiLeaks article, right?"

Oh thank God she knows who I am, I'm not just some crazy stalker. "Yes, I was thrilled to see it make the cut."

She nodded, "Yea, it was a good piece, good timing too…" Logan appeared by my side, handing me my clutch. She was clearly taken aback by our sudden company. "Mr. Huntzberger…"

"Logan, please…" He put out a hand to introduce himself.

"Amanda Sommers, it's nice to meet you. This was a nice little shindig." She was very confident.

He shrugged, "All my mother's doing…"

Amanda and her date started making their way for the door, so I took the opportunity to show some confidence of my own, keeping with them as they walked. "Ms. Sommers is the International News editor at The Times; she just ran my piece on WikiLeaks."

Logan had clearly assumed as much but politely acted surprised as we stood under the awning waiting for our cars, "Oh, well she has good taste, then."

"I try. It's not always easy these days..."

"You're right, there. Good writing can be hard to find." Logan was shameless.

"You've had a couple of pieces pushed through at our place now, haven't you, Gilmore?"

"Yea, a few. My freelance editor has been pretty persistent, I'm surprised he's still allowed to contact the building." Good, casual, light…

Amanda actually laughed, "Well, trust me, he's not the only one. What else are you working on?"

I was suddenly very grateful that I had actually been productive that morning. "Well, it's not international news but, I just started working on a piece trying to suss out how the administration might tackle education leading up to the election."

"Not international, but interesting nonetheless. Got anything good?" Before I could answer, a town car pulled up in front of us and the driver got out to open the rear door. "Oh, this is us. Well… here's my card." She extracted a business card from her purse and handed it to me. "If you think it's any good, have your editor send it my way, I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you…"

They got into their car and drove off as Logan ushered me to our waiting limo. I was in a stupor. Holy cow. I was holding the card of a New York Times editor. She wants to see what else I've got.

"Look at you go, Ace." His pride was evident. He sat next to me, beaming.

"Yea… Thanks for that, by the way…" I was being half sarcastic. Yes, I might not have spoken to her, but he didn't need to shove me into it.

He shrugged, "I do what I can…"

I sank into him as we drove home, trying to process it all… Shira, The Times…

We pulled up to the apartment and Logan held his hand out to help me out of the car. In the elevator he leaned in close and kissed the back of my neck. As exhausted as I was, goosebumps ran down my back and an involuntary smile crept across my face.

"I've been dying to do that to you all night…"

"Is that so?"

He nodded as he nuzzled his nose into my hair, inhaling deeply. "You look amazing."

I turned to face him, tugging gently on the lapels of his jacket. "You clean up pretty well yourself, Huntzberger."

He winked at me before leaning in for a deep kiss. The elevator doors slid open with a ping. Without taking his lips off of mine, he reached behind me to push the hold button. His other hand slid up my back, he deepened the kiss.

When our lips finally parted and I took a breath I couldn't help but laugh, "Logan, other people are probably waiting for the elevator…"

He playfully planted another kiss, "So, let them wait…"

I took his hand and pulled him out of the lift. Once we were inside, I let the kissing recommence. By the time we got to the bedroom, every thought except Logan had left my mind.

The next morning I woke up to the lovely aroma of fresh coffee. Sure enough, there was a hot mug sitting on my nightstand. Logan.

I found him downstairs at the breakfast bar, reading the paper, unaware that I was awake yet. I sipped my coffee and watched him for a second. I thought about last night and how he'd defended us so fervently. I had never been more confident that this was the guy I wanted to spend my life with.

Something made him sense my presence and he turned around, breaking my silent reverie. "Morning, Ace."

"Morning…" I walked over and kissed him before taking a seat on the next stool, "Thanks for the coffee."

"My pleasure…" He casually handed me the front page of the business section. Not usually my first choice, but thanks I guess… I opened it up and realized why he'd done it. Right there in full color, The Huntzberger Family Reunited. The picture, thankfully the one of the whole family, sat under the headline. I skimmed the article underneath. It was coverage of the party, totals of how much the benefit raised, mostly talk of the recent merger. It talked a little bit about the past rift between Logan and Mitchum, how he'd come back into the family fold… and there it was, "The recently engaged younger Huntzberger seems to be putting down real roots here in NYC, setting up the new corporate office for his successful media conglomerate only a few weeks ago…"

"Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag…" He raised his eyebrows, unsure of my cavelier tone. I shrugged. "I know I was fighting it for a while, but…" I shrugged again. He'd said it a while ago, it was inevitable.

I moved on to the rest of the paper, not needing to further rehash the party I'd already attended. From the dining room I could hear the muffled sound of my phone vibrating. I got up to retrieve it from my clutch, abandoned on the table last night on the way in the door.

I missed the call, but I could guess who it was without looking. Yep. Mom. I went through the french doors to the patio to call her back.

"Well you sure look like a happy family…"

"Funny…"

"Really, very Rockafeller-esque. Someone should paint that photo and mount it in the lobby of HPG."

"If it didn't include me, I would expect that Shira would have already commissioned it."

"So I take it, didn't it go so well?" She sounded disappointed.

"Oh it was mostly fine…" I filled her in from the start, arriving and taking pictures… Logan's impromptu announcement… "It wasn't until later in the evening that she started to unravel."

I walked her through her attempted jabs at the dinner table, basically being granted Mitchum's blessing… "Wow, never thought I'd see that day…" I had to agree with her there. When I finally got to telling her about our little encounter in the powder room I couldn't quite muster the indignity I'd had in the moment.

"She started in about us not even knowing anything about each other, except of course for knowing how successful Logan was…"

"Oh, spare me. Please tell me that you told that witch she could shove it…"

"She could shove what?" I had to laugh when I heard Landon's little voice in the background followed quickly by Luke's gruff one, "Jeeze, Lorelai... "

She hollered back, "Sorry… Anyway, you didn't just take it, did you?"

"No…" I'm still a little surprised at my own gumption in that moment. She listened intently, throwing in a few enthusiastic interjections as I finished telling her about that conversation, and the one with everyone back in the ballroom.

"Oh, insulting Emily and Richard? Burning bridges there, baby…"

"Yea…" That had been a pretty ballsy move...

"That thing is gone, boy… They were on shaky terms before, but now that is the Bridge Over River Kawi…"

"Yes, I get it, Mom. I think we were all shocked at that point… It wasn't all bad though."

"No, sounds like the two of you stood your ground pretty well…"

"No, I mean the night itself."

"Really? How so?"

"Well for one thing, the moments that didn't revolve around Shira were decently pleasant, plus there were a bunch of interesting people there. I even got to talk to one of the editors who printed my last piece in The Times."

"You're kidding!"

"Nope. It was a total fluke thing, too. We were leaving after Shira's last showdown, standing in line to get my purse, and she just happened to be there in front of us." I told her about introducing myself, conveniently leaving out the bit about having to be shoved into it, and how she gave me her card before she left.

"That's huge, Kid. Good job!"

We chatted for a while longer about the dress, and how the Firelight Festival had gone. She tried to casually ask if we'd discussed any wedding plans, but I put her off.

When we'd finished I checked to see what other notifications were lit up on my screen. There was a voicemail from Grandma, "Rory, it's your Grandmother. Just saw the paper this morning… I know I told you last night, but you looked positively radiant. I don't know how many messages I've already gotten on my machine about you two... Any chance you and Logan would come to dinner on Friday? We'd love to discuss throwing you an engagement party! Call me."

Of course she wants to throw us a party. I rolled my eyes, making a mental note to call her later.

What else have I missed? Several unread text messages… A couple from Leslie wanting all the details on the evening, one from Dominic asking how things were going, and one from Paris that simply said, "Call me."

Oh God… Paris. I could only imagine how that conversation would go, not to mention the fact that she didn't know I'd been fired from The Post, yet. Not ready to tackle that one yet, I replied to Dominic with what I'd been working on and told him I had some news when he had a minute.

I went back inside to freshen up my coffee before calling Leslie back; she would want every detail, no exceptions. Logan suggested we have dinner with her and Finn if they were free that night. He hadn't seen him since the engagement, afterall… could be fun.

I text Leslie the suggestion and almost immediately got a response, "Definitely."

**I do not own any characters or content related to Gilmore Girls or any other entities mentioned.**

A/N - So, we survived the Benefit! What do we think? Should the story continue?

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