After all this Time?

Summary: After The Party's Over Rory went back to Dean for a little bit, but by Pulp Friction they were broken up. After TPO Logan backed off the flirting and they never started anything, they were friendly if they ever ran into each other but never close. Nine years later they meet again.

Chapter 1: Well I'll Be Damned

She twirled the rings around her finger for the last time as she set them on her nightstand. They weren't tonight or any other night, something that had been a staple of her wardrobe for fancier parties or work events for the past four years. She should have taken them off a month ago when the papers were signed but, yet she couldn't bring herself to do it, to admit that there was a fault in her plans. But tonight, it was time to end the façade. Stop fooling herself and others that she was 29 and still married, versus 29 and divorced. She threw her head down on the vanity before she lifted her head up and stared at herself, making sure her makeup was in place and not a single hair had fallen into disarray before pulling herself up and out the door.

She arrived at the party what she hoped was fashionably late but was in all actuality just late. Damn self-reflection over over-priced jewelry. She muttered to herself as she looked around at everyone who was probably on their second or third drink of the evening. These charity events her grandmother kept insisting she go to were getting cumbersome and she was tired of it all, but she couldn't say no, well she could, but it just wasn't worth the battle. At least this one was in New York and not a drive out to Connecticut that she didn't want to make. She made her way over to the bar to get a start on catching up to the other WASPs that she was surrounded with. The overwhelming feeling of a migraine starting made her almost question the martini she ordered but the moment it touched her lips she realized she would need more of these, especially with the group of women who were coming up to her.

"Rory!"

"Mrs. Beddington, how are you? Mrs. Chase, Mrs. Campbell, great to see you ladies." She gave a simple head nod to them.

"Oh, were fine dear. How are you?" Rory inwardly rolled her eyes when she saw Constance shift her eyes down to the now empty ring finger.

"I'm doing well, it's been a great week at the Times and I finally beat my record on Candy Crush." She had a sweet smile as she watched the women's faces fall at the lack of gossip.

"Ah, yes. I suppose having a hobby is great for a woman of your ahem, status, now isn't it?" Elizabeth Chase jabbed.

"It's better than other ways to keep my hands busy, if you'll excuse me." She turned back to the bar to order another drink. She didn't notice him come up to her at the bar, nor did she hear his small chuckle at her parting shot to the group of women.

RLRLRL

Logan got out of the limo and stood in front of hotel that was holding this charity event, how he had been back from London for 8 months and this was the first appearance at these ridiculous appearances baffled him. Before he made his way into the building he cracked his neck from side to side and took a deep breath as he climbed up the steps. It had been 8 months of throwing himself into work in Hartford, and next week he was starting in New York, his new permanent location. For once he was thankful for his work load, the same work load that led to the events that made him flee London in the first place.

Cassandra was amazing, the perfect girlfriend, the first woman he lived with, the first woman he saw a permanent future with, until the day he came back to the flat they shared and saw her, and another man, in a very different light. She blamed his work load, the pressures of being the perfect kept girlfriend were to much for her, she needed an outlet. He had tried to forgive her, he had given it 2 more months of trying, even suggesting therapy and willing to work at it before he asked his father for the family ring, but she couldn't give up her 'outlets' and he didn't want that type of marriage, not with a woman he felt he loved. After that he closed up his position in London and took a more prominent seat at the Huntzberger Group back in the States. He dated here and there, found another great girl who lasted about a month before they realized it wasn't fitting and departed amicably.

He wasn't necessarily lonely or looking so, he avoided these mating rituals, and overly gratuitous displays of wealth disguised as charity events like they were the plague. But he had to do it tonight, he was representing his family and he could use an open bar after his first week here.

As he stepped into the lobby he was about to head into the ballroom before he saw a blur of black flash by him muttering something about over-priced jewelry and shaking her head. He shook his head as he inadvertently followed him, realizing she was heading to the same event he was roped into this evening. He had planned on following her to the bar, which she seemed to make a B-line for but was sidetracked by a business associate that stopped him.

"Mr. Huntzberger! How are you sir?"

"Good evening, I'm doing well, how are you?" Logan all but forgot about the late girl as he turned his focus back to Henrik Statson, a man closer to his father's age than he was to his own, but he was a great business man who was fun outside of the boardroom as he was shrewd in it.

"I have a glass of brandy and I have it on good authority there is a few Cuban cigars floating around here so I don't have many complaints." Logan laughed genuinely at his answer.

"Well, I hope you have a great evening, as for that glass of brandy I think I am going to make my way to the bar to get a drink for myself if you don't mind." He excused himself as he made his way over to the bar when he overheard the same voice close to his destination that belonged to the girl who almost ran him over just a few minutes earlier.

"It's better than other ways to keep my hands busy, if you'll excuse me." He heard the voice say and he couldn't help but laugh at her response. He watched as she turned around to the bar and ordered another drink. He couldn't help but look her over and noticed just how well she fit into the simple black dress that hugged her body with a draped back that exposed a fair amount of skin.

"So, pray tell, what are some better ways to keep your hands busy?" He watched her body jump in response to his opening line and she briefly had trouble swallowing her drink when she turned to face him. He knew that face, it was stuck in some recesses of his mind, and then somehow it clicked. "Rory Gilmore?"

"Well, I'll be damned. Logan Huntzberger?"

"How are you doing?" He asked as his eyes raked over the front of her body causing her to blush a small bit.

"I'm doing well, I work at the Times and it's been an unbelievable experience." She answered the rehearsed society answer. "How are you doing, it's been so long? What did you end up doing after Yale?"

"I am doing good, I went to London for about 7 years, learned a lot about the family business, came home to Hartford to take on a bigger role within the company and I'm moving the headquarters to New York so I'm working on that transition. Overall, I'm doing well." She nodded in response when an idea struck into her head as her eyes skimmed the room which he took notice of instantly, he knew that look, it was the I'm actively looking for someone who I need to avoid but he wanted to tease her a little bit. "Looking for better company?" He smirked at the deer caught in headlights look that she had plastered across her face.

"No, oh goodness no, I'm sorry. I'm looking for my grandma and grandpa, I have to make sure I'm seen by them before I can dart out of here in search of cheap Chinese food, if you'll excuse me." She smiled at him as she downed the last of her drink, set it on the bar and was gone quickly into the crowds. He shook his head and smiled as he watched her dart away.

They both made their rounds that night as the party dragged on, however it felt like the moment the clock struck ten she was being pulled to the door, she said her goodbyes as she slipped into the lobby to make the call to her car service, after a few minutes she heard his voice from earlier filter through the crowds. She turned to face him as she watched him say his goodbyes.

"Leaving the party there early Cinderella?"

"Yes, well, as fun as a pumpkin carriage sounds I think I'd rather take the town car home this evening." She saw the car pull up and she made her way towards it. He took one more look of her in that dress again and couldn't help himself from calling out to her.

"Rory!" She turned to face him. "Cheap Chinese food tastes so much better with an old friend." She smiled at him then turned away and made her way to the rear door of her car before turning to him again.

"Well, you coming Huntzberger?" She couldn't believe she said it but when she finally took the time to look him over she realized she wanted to spend more time with him, she wanted to spend any time with a man who looked that good in a suit. So, with that in mind her mouth did the talking before she could fully register what was being said. He smirked as he put away his cell phone, forgoing his own car for the evening.

They made their way to a small hole in the wall restaurant where she ordered a coffee and he ordered a tea. "Wow, we are getting older, huh?" He laughed at her statement as he looked down at their drink choices.

"Can I ask you something that is probably not my place after everything?"

"What do you mean everything?" Rory asked as she started piling their plate with the food that was delivered.

"Well you know, us not really being friends and stuff." He mumbled it out as if ashamed for reasons beyond her understanding.

"I mean, sure, ask away." She gave him a quizzical look.

"How are you really? I mean earlier back there, we gave the canned answers and even though we're still in fancy clothes it just doesn't seem right to only give the safe answers."

She took a deep breath, she had no reason to give him anything but the canned answer, she had no reason to trust him, she certainly didn't owe him anything. But on the flip side of that coin, she had no reason to not give him a non-rehearsed answer, he wasn't a DAR biddy looking for gossip, he was an old friend and they were catching up. "I've been doing okay. I wasn't lying earlier when I said work was going well, honestly, I'm doing well too. The divorce kind of hit harder than I thought it would but other than that."

"Wait, divorce?" He looked at her shocked.

"Um, yeah, sorry I just assumed you heard, I was married to Jameson Bass."

"The lawyer?" She nodded her head in response. "Wow, I'm sorry about the divorce. Um, do you mind if I ask when it happened?"

"Well, the separation happened about 2 and a half months ago, the divorce was pretty easy, there wasn't much to divide, and it was finalized within two weeks and the reason it took that long was just because we were never in the same place at the same time long enough to sit down and go over things. There's nothing to be sorry about, he was a great guy and a good husband."

"If he…" Logan trailed off, not knowing how far he could push this openness she was exhibiting.

"If he was such a good husband what happened?" She smirked at him as he hung his head a bit. "Well, I'm a bitter shrew." She laughed to herself before continuing. "No, we were fine together, happy enough, and he was a good husband. But we also both worked crazy hours, we just didn't fit. I realized on a work trip that had me out of town for 10 days that I was fine with not checking in that often because I didn't long for him like I should have. When I got back, we sat down and talked, realized that we did love each other just not the way the other deserved, so we looked over our prenup decided who got what, and just went our separate ways. But what's strange is that tonight was the first night I didn't wear my rings to an event like this. I mean, I hardly ever wore my engagement ring, just usually a simple wedding band when I was out and about, and I stopped that the day of our conversation. But the actual set, it was just like second nature to wear it to society events. The blue-blood need to show off wealth I suppose." She added with a smile, and she realized that she didn't cry when telling the story, she was just simply content. "Everyone keeps waiting for some scandal to come out. But there was none, just two people wanting the best for the other. Now that I've talked your ear off, what's your non-society answer."

"Well first of all, even though there's nothing to be sorry about, I'm sorry that you guys went through that, it's nice that it was so amicable though. That's pretty admirable for both of your parts. Plus, it's good to know if I ever in need of a lawyer he seems to have a level-head to him. As for me, I was in London for years, I loved it. The rain, the sights, the food, the pubs, everything about it was great. Met someone, fell in love, moved her in, thought about asking for the family ring, came home one day to a very compromising situation, we tried to move past it and it didn't work so I came back here." He tried to brush it off as if it was nothing, but she saw the small crack in his face.

"Well, I'm sorry, that's never the best of situations to be in. You probably don't remember but the guy who dumped me at my grandparent's party? He eventually pulled the same thing on me after we got back together."

"I was wondering what happened to you two, I had heard you guys were back together then next thing I knew you were at a party with Robert." He remembered that party and the feeling he had when he saw her there. He had backed off of the fun and flirty banter they had because he had heard she was dating the moron who dumped her, so it came as a shock to see her on the arm of Robert just a few short months later.

"Ah yes, then spent the next six weeks showering." She retorted back quickly which made Logan smirk again. "That thing was doomed from the start, but we had both had so much invested it felt weird to throw it away and it was a whole big thing. But god, that feels like so long ago. " She could have kept up with the reminiscing but decided to go a different path. She wanted to catch up with him more, hear the silky way his voice sounded, especially when it wasn't burdened down with some idiot of his past. "So, at least I know why I haven't seen you at any of these functions since Yale, to busy enjoying the London skyline, huh?"

"Miss me Ace?" She smiled at the nickname, but he didn't seem to register it.

"Just best to know where the storm is coming from." They smiled at each other for a minute longer when the tension was broken with the waiter bringing the check which Logan grabbed from the table before she could take it. "Hey, it was my idea I should have to pay."

"Normally I wouldn't dignify that with a response, but we spent $20 and if I can't spare that while I'm catching up with a friend then I shouldn't have been at that ostentatious event earlier. Seriously Rory, I got this."

"Fine, but next time, it's on me."

"There's a next time?" He raised his eyebrows at her.

"There is no reason for us to not be in the same city and not keep in touch Logan. I really enjoyed our friendship at Yale, as light as it may have been, and we both work in the same industry, I'm positive that there will be another party that we desperately want to escape, and we will find ourselves getting really good Mexican food and then it will be my honor to pay."

"I still won't let you pay, but I honor the attempt." He threw down cash as she rolled her eyes in response and they both left the table, getting into her car. They drove the 20 minutes to her place where they spent the time laughing, the awkwardness of catching up out of the way they fell into a banter learning more about each other in the process.

As the town car pulled up to her building in the Upper East Side she paused for a moment. "I've instructed the driver to take you home, it was a great night Logan, I hope to see you next time." She noticed that she had leaned in slightly to him and suddenly she felt the air change. They had always had a flirty undertone to their conversations, and tonight had been no different, but something felt more palpable as they sat in the car, knees touching while she ran her hands along her dress. Without thinking, much like the initial acceptance of his invitation earlier in the evening, she leaned in to kiss him. The kiss was great, not disrobe you right there intense, but something that would make Nancy Reagan blush. As she pulled away she smirked at his wide-eyed expression. "I just wanted to know what it would be like. Goodnight Logan."

He watched her walk out of the car as the driver kept asking for his address to take him home, but he couldn't focus on anything except for her silhouette as she greeted the doorman with a smile and made her way to the elevator. He watched in agony trying to figure out if he should follow her and kiss her exactly like how he wanted to, how he had wanted to all those years ago. He had been intrigued by her as a conquest at first, all those years ago, then he found himself caring about her, then he made her a friendly acquaintance, then she had faded into a distant memory for years while he was in London. But tonight, the desire came back when he first saw her without ever realizing who she was, the caring, it had come back somewhere in that late-night dinner, but that kiss was amazing. He watched her as she waited for the elevator, the inner turmoil on if he should follow her drowned out the driver's question.