Summary: Logan and Rory broke up after Honor's wedding and the Bridesmaids debacle. She never moved back in with Logan. How long will their pride keep them apart and at what price? Sophie/Rogan. Not sure if rating may change as the story progresses.

Chapter 1 – Aunt Claires Legs Sprawled On June 3rd

Rory walked in the door with the mail in her hands. She closed the door with her foot as she shuffled through her correspondence and the one addressed to Lorelai. She set her drink down on coffee table as she sat on the couch and untangled her purse from her arm, but held on to the bag of food she was carrying. She laid her head back and closed her eyes for a second. Why was she so tired? She had slept in part of the day and had only gotten up to shower and go to Luke's to grab something to eat. Her stomach still seemed unsettled after her hangover a few weeks ago. It seemed to have left her stomach kind of weak and queasy. She was able to eat whatever she wanted, but there were certain foods she couldn't smell.

She sat up a moment later and set her food in front of her. She started opening her mail and a flyer caught her attention. She dropped the envelope in her hand and picked up the flyer. A small smile formed on her lips. Jess. They were having an opening for their bookstore. Maybe she should go check it out. At least it would get her out of the funk she was in since Honor's wedding. She had felt hopeful when she had attended her bridal shower and Shira seemed to have wanted to take her under her wing and introduced her to other members of their extended family. She had made sure her friends had ooh'd and ahh'd over Logan's girlfriend, newest DAR darling and a Gilmore-Hayden. Had they ever seen such a pretty face? A few of Shira's friends noted that Lorelai had been such a pretty girl in her time, but not quite as pretty. Imagine Shira, a baby with Logan's blonde hair and her blue eyes! A far cry from their first meeting.

None of that mattered now, anyhow. She and Logan were broken up two weeks after that and there wouldn't be a blond baby with blue eyes. She looked at the flyer again. This was important for Jess, and she was happy for her old friend. She wanted to be there for him. She had decided. She was going to go to Philadelphia to see Jess.

"Rory! Where are you? I need you to help me send June 3rd invitations with your pretty handwriting! Rory?" She heard a flush and more noises coming out of the bathroom. She walked towards the bathroom and knocked on the door. "Rory, are you okay?" More disturbing noises came from the other end. A few minutes later Rory unlocked the door from the other end and Lorelai peeked her head in.

"Hey, you okay kid?"

"Now that I've thrown up everything I've eaten in the last three days, I think I am. Ugh!" She brushed her teeth and rinsed her face with cool water. She walked out the bathroom and Lorelai followed her to the couch.

"I thought you were over that stomach bug. That was a while ago, wasn't it?"

"I guess I'm not. Maybe it was those hotdogs I had the other day. I knew I should have stuck to ketchup with relish. Damn that mustard with onions or ketchup without. Or maybe it was the chilly fries I washed the six hotdogs down with. I think that was it."

"You know, you've been looking pretty pale for a while now."

"Well as long as there's still a pretty in front of that pale."

"Hey, I've got the invitations with me and I need you to help me address them while I stuff."

"Why do I have to address them? How come I don't get to stuff?"

"Because, Luke's writing resembles my aunt Claire's spider veins, and you're the one with the pretty hand writing out of the two."

"Well why won't you address them and I'll stuff."

"Because, I'm trying to save you from licking the envelope. The taste of the paper might make you start throwing up again. You could ruin the invitations."

They got the things and went to sit on the kitchen table. Lorelai had accidentally grabbed Jess's flyer. "Hey, Luke mentioned this to me. It's good that he's finally doing good."

"Yeah, I was thinking of going."

Lorelai eyed her daughter curiously.

"What?"

"You're not doing this to get a certain blond boy off you mind, are you?"

"No, I am doing this because an old friend has invited me to witness an accomplishment of his that he has looked forward to for as long as I've known him,"

"Well as long as you're doing it for the right reasons. So have you talked to him?"

"Who, Jess? No, I haven't talked to him for a few months. This will give us an opportunity to catch up."

"You know I didn't mean Jess. I meant Logan. You haven't called him back?"

"I don't want to talk about Logan. Or to him for that matter."

"Well maybe you should kid. It's not good that you haven't talked things out with him. I mean, if you're going to remain broken up, that's your decision, but I still think you owe it to yourself to let him explain himself. At least to get some closure."

"There's nothing to explain mom. He cheated, and that's that. There's nothing to explain. And since when are you on Logan's side? You hated Logan, so go back to hating him now."

"I never hated Logan. There were things about him that I questioned, but they cleared up once I got the chance to know him a little."

"Well now you know that he reverted back to his old ways, cheated on your daughter, and that's that! So go back to hating him."

"Oh. My. God! I never hated him! And he didn't cheat on you! You two were broken up, weren't you? That doesn't count as cheating. You officially found out you were broken up on Thanksgiving Day. For all you know, he thought you two broke up that night you fought."

"We weren't officially broken up! To break up with someone you have to tell them that you're breaking up!"

"But you guys didn't call each other for weeks! He probably took that as a sign you were broken up. It's not like he has anything to compare it to. He'd never broken up with a girlfriend. He had never had a girlfriend before you. He probably thought that that fight was the break up. Did you two talk at all after the fight?"

"You know what? I'm getting tired of everyone being on his side. You can have aunt Claire's legs sprawled all over your wedding invitations. I'm done helping you!"

And with that Rory stormed off into her room and slammed the door behind her. Just then the phone started ringing. Lorelai sat there and let the answering machine pick it up. The voice in the other end didn't surprise her. He had called her earlier at the Dragonfly hoping that she could talk Rory into at least letting him talk to her. She had agreed to it because she was sure Rory needed to face this at least to get some closure. Now she wasn't so sure she would be able to do it.

Rory walked into the bookstore and absorbed her surroundings. The place had a bohemian feel to it, with creativity floating around the room freely. Jess spotted her immediately and they made eye contact. He excused himself and walked towards her.

"Hey, you made it."

"Yeah, I got the invite in the mail the other day. Thought I'd take a road trip to check it out. The place looks great."

"Thanks. Come, I want to introduce you to a few people."

They mingled for a while. It had started getting late and people had started to leave. Rory thought it was time she also headed home. It was late, and she was tired, not to mention that it was a three and a half hour drive back home.

"Hey Jess, I think it's time for me to start heading back home. It's late, and mom's going to be worried."

"No, wait, I want to show you something. Come upstairs with me."

He led the way up and opened the door to a room. "I live up here with a couple of the guys. It may not be much, but it's a starting point."

She looked around the room that he had turned into a bachelor pad. "Hey, you've done a good job with the place."

"Thanks. Come, sit down with me. You haven't told me what you've been up to lately since I last saw you."

"Well, like I told you, I'm back in Yale. I'm also editor of the newspaper. And you probably already heard, my mom and Luke are getting married June 3rd. I'm the maid of honor."

"Yeah, I knew about that. Luke actually called me yesterday and asked me to be his best man."

"Oh, good. So you will be coming."

He inched closer to her. "Yeah, I will."

Their eyes met for a second before closing as their lips met. The kiss was tentative at first, neither of them sure what they were getting themselves into, wondering if they should shy away from what it might turn into.

The smell of his aftershave filled her nostrils. She recognized the smell as something she had always around her when she was younger. Today it made her stomach churn unexpectedly. She pulled back from the kiss as fast as she could and placed her hands over her mouth and nose. She panicked for a second and noticed an open door that obviously led to the bathroom. She wasn't sure how she managed to practically jump over Jess to get to the door, but the minute she reached it she slammed the door and barely managed to make it over to the toilet.

On the other side of the bathroom door Jess could hear Rory retching. It worried and annoyed him at the same time. This wasn't what he had expected to happen after she showed up. He had hoped for something more romantic. He had wanted to see sparks fly. To see that their time had finally come. He was finally settled in on a career that was taking off, and she only had a year of school left with a solid path for her career. This was their chance to finally get things straight between the two and settled into the relationship they had always wanted.

Rory flushed the toilet and lowered the lid once she was done emptying the contents of her stomach. She turned the cold water on and splashed it on her face and neck. She grabbed the towel he had hanging behind the door and took a seat. She buried her face in the towel as tears started running down.

She had ignored the signs for as long as possible, hoping they would go away. Logan had been the first to note that she was three days late the morning of Honor's wedding as they were getting ready as she mentioned how bloated she looked in her dress. Maybe she should have gone with a different cut and color. This one was certainly not doing her any favors, and the green color was making her look pale. She should have gone with the icy blue with the sash at the waist. He had joked that in less than nine months they would find out if she was bloated or pregnant.

Now she was sitting in her ex boyfriend's bathroom crying while he waited outside the door for her. What excuse would she give him? She had to get out of there quick. She wanted to run home and lock herself in her room and not let the world in.

After a few minutes she opened the door and faced Jess, concern written on his face.

"I think I need to go home now."