Before you start on this final chapter of Best Is Yet To Come I want to thank everyone for reading. I joined this site 13 years ago, almost to the day. I joined because I'd found a vast collection of Gilmore Girls fanfiction stories, and the GG world was one that I loved to immerse myself in whenever I had the chance. I also joined so that I could share my own stories - I'd already begun sharing the early chapters of Best and Road to Heaven on Illusive at the time. The idea for Best blindsided me shortly after The Party's Over (S5.e08) originally aired and even though it was a topic that I was hardly equipped, or sure of handling, I took the chance and wrote those early chapters... the story evolved from there and though it's taken me 13 years, I can honestly say that I still love this story.

I love the way the characters evolved, how they changed within the story, how they grew.

I love the world that developed around them and for them, and I can say (with an almost gleeful hope) that I look forward to coming back to this world to build on what I've already established. I would love to come back to vacation and party with the LDB. I'd love to look back to see how Lorelai interacted within the LDB framework during her days of active membership. I want to futurescape and see what happens down the line for Rory and Logan, and for all their friends and family.

You'll notice, this final chapter is not called an Epilogue. I did this purposely because an epilogue is the end, it's one last snippet of a story. And though this is the final chapter of Best Is Yet To Come, it is not the absolute end of the saga.

But for now, it's time for you to see how this story wraps up...

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Even after all these years, I still don't own Gilmore Girls, it's characters, or it's locales. My own storylines, ideas and characters are the creations of my twisted imagination, and are in no way meant to be an infringement of the intellectual properties of WB, CW, or ASP...

Chapter 27: The Best Is Yet To Come

Rory smiled at Logan across the ballroom as he caught her watching him and the guys talking next to bar. He returned her smile with his signature smirk and raised his glass to her. At the action the four men standing with him turned and saw her as well, lifting their glasses to her in turn. Her smile turned to a quiet laugh and as she tuned back in to the conversation surrounding her she gave a small shake of the head.

"What do you think Rory?" her mother queried, and Rory smiled again.

"I think you'll survive without any champagne tonight, but I really don't think Luke needs to drink your share. He doesn't even like champagne, Mom, that'd honestly just be mean." Rory replied with ease, even though she hadn't been paying full attention to her mother diatribe on abstaining from alcohol – after all it was a recurring one Lorelai had been entertaining her with during the past four months since she'd discovered that she was pregnant.

Lorelai gasped which caused the other two women standing with them to laugh. "You weren't even listening to what I was saying! I can't believe you have guts to call yourself my daughter and my best friend."

"Of course, I call myself your daughter." Rory rolled her eyes. "You delight in telling the world, against all my protests, that I'm the 'fruit of your loins'."

"Well you get this delightful little twitch under your eye every time I say it. I can't help myself." Lorelai cut in impudently.

"And as I recall you were the first to say that I was your best friend. I mean, most people would think it's a little sad – claiming your child as your best friend," Rory continued without break, despite the appalled sounds coming from her mother. "But I love you, so I let it go. After all, I know its just your way of trying to keep an inside track on everything that's going on in my life."

"You are a horrible, horrible child. I can't believe I ever told people that you were my favorite daughter." Lorelai accused her, dramatically pointing her finger and waving her arms around.

Rory snorted at the declaration. "I'm your only child, at least for another three months or so, therefore being labelled your favorite is something of a misnomer as you've nothing to compare me to mother."

"Why are you being so mean to me?" Lorelai pouted.

"Why are you being so ridiculous?" The younger girl countered.

Swallowing her chuckles Shira Huntzberger stepped between the Gilmore girls. She slipped one arm around Lorelai's waist, her other hand briefly touching Rory's arm. "That's enough girls. Let's remember why we're here Lorelai, and who tonight's guest of honor actually is."

Rory nodded her thanks to Logan's mom and then had to hide her smile behind her champagne glass when Shira gave her a conspiratorial wink as Lorelai glanced away for a second.

"That's right," Raina Morgan agreed. "We're here to celebrate Rory's graduation. We really are all so proud of you darling."

Lorelai sniffed as if in disagreement but then couldn't maintain her affronted charade and laughed. "We really are babe. Me and Luke. Your dad and your grandparents. Everyone. We're all so proud of your accomplishments the past couple years. You've always surpassed all our expectations of you but," Lorelai paused a moment, then released an unsteady breath. "You faced near impossible obstacles and you made it through with grace and a poise that I envy. I'm not sure who to credit that to but I will always be in awe of it. I'll always be a little in awe of you too. I may have made you but even I had no idea how amazing you'd actually become."

"Mom," Rory whispered softly and stepping close slipped both her arms around Lorelai. She squeezed briefly and then backed up slightly. "I love you."

"Love you too, kid." Lorelai whispered and wiped the single tear that had escaped her eye.

"If it'll make you feel better," Rory said quietly with smile. "You'll always be my favorite mom." And laughed when Lorelai pulled out of the embrace and gasped in outrage again, causing the other ladies laughed loudly.

"I'm your only mom!" She cried as her friends and Rory continued to laugh at her for a minute. Eventually the laughter calmed as Lorelai pouted.

"Oh, I don't know," Rory admitted still smiling and glanced around the room then at the two women with she and her mother. "The last couple years, I feel like I've had a whole village of mothers to lean on when I needed, or to go to when I needed advice."

All three of the older women were shocked and touched by her words. Rory shrugged and focused on Lorelai again. "If I've moved with grace and poise through the struggles of the past couple years, it's because I've had some pretty incredible examples to draw upon – from you and Grandma, and from all the other LDB moms."

"Oh Rory," Shira murmured, and Rory met her gaze with a smile and a sheen of tears in her eyes.

"You truly are the dearest girl." Raina told her and gave her a quick buzz on the cheek. "I'm going to go find Finn and tell him, again, how he really needs to find himself a young lady just like you."

Rory smirked and considered spilling the very secret beans that Finn had indeed found himself a very nice girl to date, whom he was becoming rather serious about during the past couple months, but ultimately decided it was his secret to tell when he was ready. Instead she said, "He's over by the bar with Logan, Colin and a couple others."

"Wonderful," Raina replied with a brilliant smile and swept off in her son's direction.

"I do hope he plans to tell Raina and Finnegan about Bella soon," Shira commented softly as they all watched their friend approaching the young men.

Lorelai sniffled the last of her tears away. "I know! Every time she makes a comment like that I just want to laugh and that would just hurt her feelings. But I can understand why he and Bella have been so hush-hush about things."

"They've mostly kept things quiet because Finn's afraid Tristan will kill him for 'defiling' his little sister." Rory shared.

"Well that's what he gets for defiling a girl five years younger than him." Lorelai replied.

Rory chuckled. "Trust me, she was far from unsullied when Finn got his hands on her."

"His dirty, dirty hands." Lorelai added causing Shira to choke on the sip of champagne she'd just taken.

"Good God Cheers." She complained after managing to clear her throat. "Warn a girl before you try to kill her."

"Alright, I'm leaving." Rory announced. "I can guess which direction this is going. But please try to remember ladies, Logan and I told you about them in confidence. Keep it to yourself." And with that Rory moved away. She didn't head in Logan and the boys' direction as Raina had but headed the opposite way, toward a group that contained her grandparents and a few others.

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Seeing movement in the corner of his eye, Logan turned his head to see Finn's mother determinedly approaching their group. "Incoming," he warned the other men causing conversation to pause and everyone to glance around.

"Finn, my handsome boy," Raina cheerfully greeted her son when she reached them. "You look fantastic. My doing." She teased and winked at the rest of the group. They all laughed at her jest and Finn stepped to her side to kiss her on the cheek.

"Mother. If I get my good looks from you, to whom should I credit my amazing personality and fashion sense?" He teased while tweaking his sleeves and lapels.

Raina laughed and lightly pinched his chin. "I claim those too, of course. Your father can have the ability to drink ridiculous amounts of alcohol with seemingly little effect, and your unfortunate habit for painting your fingernails. Those I have no wish to take responsibility for."

The guys all laugh and Finn smiles. "I hardly do that anymore." He told her and flashed his paint-less fingers at her.

"The last time I saw you your nails were blue."

"That was Rory's fault." He assured her. "She found me passed out on her couch one morning after an LDB event and decided to torture me."

"Why were you even at an LDB event?" Raina questioned him a befuddled frown briefly flashing over her expression. "You graduated last year my darling."

"Was that what that ceremony was all about last year?" He teased and laughed at her eye roll. "Rory was still a member of the active class this year so there's usually a couple of us who go with her. Plus: free drinks."

Raina's eyebrows lifted high. "Yes, I can see how free drinks would be a great incentive for one such as you."

"Are you implying I drink too much?" Finn asked in fabricated, scandalized affront.

"No dear," She assured seriously. "I'm saying you're rich."

"But Mother, Rory keeps telling us all that just because we have lots of money, doesn't mean we should spend it frivolously." Finn tells her seriously.

She sighed and a small smile formed on her lips. "We really do need to find you a nice girl like Rory."

"There's only one Rory." Logan slipped in to the conversation.

"Yes," Raina agreed. "And I'm rather sure you won't be letting her slip your grasp."

"He's always been a greedy bastard." Colin told her soberly.

"And you aren't? How is Stephanie?" She teased but was thoroughly diverted. "I haven't noticed a ring on her finger as yet."

"God, don't say that so loud." Colin muttered, glancing around to make sure the woman in question wasn't anywhere near. "You'll give her ideas." The laughter that followed his comment drew the gazes of many around the room.

"The girl doesn't need ideas Colin," Raina replied. "She's got reams of plans for the two of you. She's just waiting for you to step up."

"Well she's going to keep on waiting." Colin grumbled.

Raina chuckled and patted him on the cheek. "Don't keep her waiting too long darling," she told him. "She's the type who will take the reins from you if you do, and once she's got them, I wish you luck getting them back."

"Too true mate," Finn agreed with his mother and mocking patted Colin's other cheek just as she had. "Then she'll truly be the one holding your balls, and I don't think she'll give them back either."

As laughter once again exploded around them, Finn pulled his mother away from the other men. Before the pair had gone too far the group heard her voice again. "Really dear, you shouldn't tease him. At least he has a girlfriend."

"Oh mum," Finn muttered and rolled his eyes, but continued to walk with her.

"Jeez," said a voice that just reached Logan's ear. "Talk about no balls."

Logan glanced over his shoulder and smirked at Tristan standing just behind him. He shifted slightly to make room for the other man to join them. Then he leaned closer. "He's worried about his face." Logan told him.

"His face?" Tristan wondered with a frown. "Like 'saving face' or the actual state of his face?"

"He's worried your fists will 'mar the perfection of it.' His words." Logan clarified.

Tristan rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to damage him just for sleeping with my sister."

"That's what Rory has told him." Logan agreed. "Dozens of times in fact."

"Maybe if she'd been pure as fallen snow I'd feel differently, but God knows she was no Mary." Tristan teased.

"You've really got to let that go." Logan countered. "Rory's no Mary either."

"Maybe not now but first impressions are lasting." Tristan told him.

"She was barely 16." Logan reminded him.

Tristan smiled fondly at the memory of the first time he saw Rory. "And oh, so innocent."

"Just because someone looks innocent does not mean that they are." Lane interrupted them as she arrived at their side and immediately butted into the conversation.

"She was." Tristan argued.

"She was not." Lane rebutted.

"Was."

"Can you not do that tonight?" Colin snapped.

"What?" Tristan and Lane turned to look at him and asked at the exact same time.

"Thirty seconds and I have a headache already." Colin muttered. "I paid attention to your conversation for less than thirty seconds and you've made my head hurt. So please, for the love of God, stop. No one cares if she was or wasn't innocent."

"Besides as we all know, there can be a vast difference between innocent and virginal." Robert put in.

"She was both." Tristan muttered. "And trust me, it mattered."

"Ugh. No one asked you." Lane muttered back and playfully slugged his arm for good measure.

Logan laughed causing the pair looked at him in question. "I'd give him virginal Lane, she was that after all. But can anyone raised by Lorelai Gilmore truly be considered innocent?" At his words the entire group of them look across the room to see Lorelai gesticulating hugely while talking to Logan's mother and Amelia Vanderbilt. Even from a distance they could see the wicked expression on Lorelai's face and the laughter both Shira and Amelia were gamely trying to suppress. The fact that they all began chuckling, without a clue as to what Lorelai was even saying, proved to them all that a life led with Lorelai would be far from boring, or innocent.

When they finally turned away from the spectacle she was making of herself across the room, Logan met Tristan's gaze with an eyebrow raised.

Tristan sighed. "She may be your Ace, but she'll always be Mary to me."

"Fair enough," Logan shrugged.

"Where is Rory?" Lane asked since she hadn't seen her friend yet that evening.

"Last we saw she was with Lorelai and the mothers." Colin replied while Logan and Tristan looked around the room with searching gazes. Tristan spotted her first.

"It appears she's on parade with Emily," he announced and gestured in their direction across the room.

"And look," Lane pointed out when she saw her best friend. "They're talking to your parents, Dugrey. Oh, to be a fly on the wall for that conversation."

"We aren't 12, she's not going to blab to my parents about anything that may get me in trouble." Tristan pointed out with a roll of his eyes.

"The fact that is the first thing you think of is disappointing." Lane told him.

"It really is too bad that Rory is such a nice person," Robert mused.

Logan laughed. "Yes, nice people are such a hardship to have around."

"No, I just mean it'd be easier to dislike or dismiss her if she wasn't so nice." Robert explained.

"I think you're going to have to explain that one to me a bit more. I have to admit, I'm not following you." Logan said.

"Our parents all love her." Robert continued. "Every time they see or talk to her, we end up hearing a litany of 'she's so wonderful,' or 'why don't you find yourself someone like Rory?' Just like Raina told Finn when she came over. It gets really annoying."

"You could get a girlfriend of your own." Lane suggested helpfully, though her tone conveyed a far different emotion.

"The good ones are all taken." Robert admitted.

"It might help if you tried looking for women somewhere besides a bar." Colin pointed out.

"Not all of us can be so lucky as to grow up with the perfect woman for us Colin." Robert argued.

Colin shrugged, not offended in the least by his combative tone. "Logan didn't."

"Yeah, well, Logan found a lot of women in a lot of bars before he was lucky enough to stumble upon Rory." Robert grumbled.

Lane looked at Logan, both eyebrows raised as if questioning of, or excited by, whatever his response to the other man's comment would be. But Logan just shrugged and smirked at the other man.

"True," he agreed.

"See." Robert told Colin pointedly.

And Logan interrupted him. "I never found anything worth keeping at the bar though buddy. I discovered Ace at the coffee cart."

"See." Colin snidely rebutted in Roberts' direction.

"Yeah well, most people aren't nearly as obsessed with coffee as Rory either. I'm not sure haunting coffee carts would do any good either." Robert concluded and was pleased to see the others nodding in agreement of his assessment.

It was Tristan however that added one last comment to the conversation before they were interrupted by Richard and Emily Gilmore taking control of a microphone near the dance floor. He said, "And yet, chances are the women you'd find haunting the clubs aren't going to be ones you'll form any kind of meaningful relationship with either."

"Like you'd know." Robert grumbled at Richard began speaking, thus bringing all other conversation to a halt.

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Still chuckling under her breath, Rory approached her grandparents where they stood talking to a small group of her friends' parents and grandparents. As she neared, she heard her grandfather bragging, again, about the handful of job offers she'd already received. She sidled up beside him, slipping her hand under his elbow and winding her arm with his.

"Oh Grandpa, I'm sure these fine gentlemen would be much more interested in hearing about your most recent golf game than about the jobs I may or may not take in the near future." She cut in to his spiel, smiling sweetly at him to take away the sting of her interruption. Her grandfather chuckled and patted her hand, and the group surrounding them laughed politely as well.

Swallowing his chuckle, Mitchum Huntzberger spoke. "I'd be far more interested in knowing whether you've made any decisions regarding those job offers."

"You just want to know if the girl is going to come work for one of your papers, or if she's going to torture you and that son of yours while she works for a competitor." James Morgan, Finn's grandfather pointed out.

The group laughed again and raising his eyebrow in much the same way Logan did when silently asking a question, Mitchum agreed with the older man. "True."

"I haven't made any final decisions yet." Rory told them. "But now that finals and all the year-end work at the YDN is finished up, I'll be focusing on my next steps."

"A very reasonable way of looking at things," Emily intoned. "If you gentlemen will excuse us, I'm going to steal Rory away for a few minutes to do the rounds."

"Of course," Charles Bradshaw replied. "And just in case I don't have the opportunity to speak with you again tonight, congratulations on your graduation Rory."

"Thank you, Mr. Bradshaw," Rory said.

"Ah, now, I'm sure I've told you a dozen times to simply call me Charles." He reminded her.

"You have, you're right." Rory agreed and smiled again. "Thank you, Charles."

"Off we go," Emily prodded. "Gentlemen." She added with a nod.

Rory spent the next ten minutes drifting from one group of family friends and acquaintances to another with her grandmother, saying hello and receiving congratulations. When Emily steered her towards the cluster of her own girlfriends Rory felt immense relief.

"There's the lady of the night!" Juliet cheered.

"Lady of honor, Jules," Paris corrected soberly, then ruined it as she continued. "Lady of the night just makes her sound like a prostitute." The girls burst with laughter.

"Really girls," Emily shushed them.

"Sorry Mrs. Gilmore," Steph apologized, the first of them able to calm herself.

"Alright now," Emily said as she looked over Rory and her friends. "You ladies all look very lovely tonight. I haven't seen some of you girls much since you graduated last year but you all look as if you're doing very well for yourselves."

Rosemary smiled. "Thank you Mrs. Gilmore. It's definitely been an interesting year."

"Yes, yes," Emily agreed and nodded at Rosemary. "More so for some of you than others." And Rosemary's smile widened as she glanced down at the ring which adorned her left hand.

"Yes it has." She wholeheartedly agreed and placed her be-ringed hand in Emily's so that the older woman could inspect it with pursed lips.

"Well, your Jameson certainly has good taste in jewelry." She finally said and continued to hold Rosemary's hand as she shifted her eyes to meet her granddaughters friends' gaze. "And he treats you well?"

Rose's smile softened and a new emotion entered her eyes. "He does Mrs. Gilmore, very well."

"Good." She nodded and released the girl's hand. She smiled again at them. "Now, I leave my granddaughter with you ladies. Treat her well. She is the guest of honor tonight after all." She said with a wink and swept away, leaving the girls to giggle and gossip amongst themselves.

A few minutes later the girls chatter was interrupted with the tinkling sound of silver against crystal and Richard Gilmore's voice loud over a microphone. At the first sound of his voice the girls giggled and pushed Rory toward the small dance floor where her grandparents now stood.

"Friends. Ladies and Gentlemen." He began and smiled hugely at the crowd as everyone in the room turned their attention toward him. "Ladies and Gentlemen, first let me thank you for coming to celebrate my granddaughter's graduation."

They all saw as Emily very obviously reached over and pinched his arm. "Ouch," he muttered and glanced at his wife before looking back out to those gathered before them. "Oh, I do beg your pardon. Celebrating our granddaughter's graduation."

"I can't let him take all the credit." Emily interrupted with a smirk. "Have you seen her? Can you blame me?"

Polite chuckles rumbled around the room and Rory blushed as Lane, who suddenly appeared at her side, whispered in her ear. "Sometimes they are so cute."

"So," Richard continued. "When my wife and I sat down to write our toast we ran into something of a problem." His tone shifted to a much more somber, more serious note. "All of our words sounded too mundane, too insignificant to mark such an auspicious occasion as Rory's graduation from Yale."

"Very auspicious indeed." Stephanie giggled and then gasped as he continued and they all realized the spectacle that was about to take place.

"So instead… maestro…" He said and looked with a nod toward the man who'd been quietly playing piano at the side of the dance floor.

As piano notes began to float around the room they heard Emily say, "Please excuse us, we're not singers."

But it was Richard's comment, ostensibly to his wife though he winked at Rory as he spoke, that caused quiet laughter to ring out once again. "Never let them see you sweat, dear."

What followed was a moment that Rory would always remember fondly, but with equal parts amusement and embarrassment. While her grandmother was right and neither she nor Richard were singers, the couple managed to put together a jaunty number that displayed for all to hear that they were inordinately proud of Rory's accomplishments at Yale. As the tune wrapped up the room exploded with applause, laughter and hoots of appreciation. Rory, blushing all over again, moved to her grandparents and hugged them both.

"Wow," she told them. "Thank you for that."

Also chuckling, Emily said, "We meant every word of that song."

"We certainly did," Richard agreed. "Even the ones we sang off-key. We are so proud of you."

"Oh," Rory said softly at them, emotion thick in her voice. "Thank you so much. You know that none of this would be possible without your help, so you should all know that," she turned and addressed the crowd still focused on them. "That there's no way I could be a bulldog through and through if it weren't for these two, so thank you so much, grandma and grandpa."

"Congratulations, Rory," Richard told her solemnly and raised his champagne glass to her. "To you."

As the chime of their glasses touching rang out a bevy of cheers followed from around the room. "To Rory!" and "Cheers!" was heard from all corners.

Rory remained standing near her grandparents and took a moment to look out at the assorted friends who had come to celebrate with them that evening. While a good majority of them were in fact Yale alumnus and Hartford elite, she spotted more than a few of Stars Hollow's finest amongst the crowd. She smiled when she found Christopher standing with one group of her friends parents, and when she spied her mother and Luke beside Logan's parents, her grin widened. When her gaze finally fell on Logan, still standing near the bar with Colin, Tristan, Finn and a couple other LDBers, she nodded and took a deep breath.

She gestured to her grandfather for the microphone, glancing at it quickly to ensure it was still on. "I just wanted to say, for a very long time getting in to Harvard was my dream. Even while I was filling out college applications I told myself that applying at Yale and Princeton, as well as my favored Harvard, was simply a practical, smart move. Backups, right. Then I got acceptance letters from all three and I realized that somewhere along the way, I'd actually started to wonder which was the right and the best place for me." Rory met her mom's eyes and smiled softly.

"Five years ago if you'd asked mom or I if either of us saw me in New Haven, going to Yale and graduating a proud Bulldog, well we both probably would have laughed." Rory paused, took a couple deep breaths, sighed. "But you know, now, looking back… Despite everything that has happened in the past four years, I know that old dream was wrong. Yale was, always, right where I belonged." There were a few murmurs of agreement from the crowd, smiles of understanding on the faces of those she made eye contact with.

"I said that I couldn't have become a Bulldog if it weren't for grandma and grandpa and that's true, but it's not the whole truth. I wanted to quit. I wanted to leave Yale and go somewhere, anywhere else. For a while, I felt like I couldn't even breathe on campus." She paused again and swallowed before continuing, her eyes locked with Logan's. "If it weren't for Logan and his constant assurance that I was strong enough to face any challenge, if it weren't for our friends on campus and in Stars Hollow and Hartford and their quiet, steady support of me when I needed it most, I would have given up. I couldn't have become a Bulldog without grandma and grandpa, but I wouldn't have become a 'Bulldog through and through' if it weren't for all of you."

Logan smiled at her. She raised her glass. "So I while I thank you for coming tonight to celebrate the culmination of my Yale career, I lift my glass to all of you and thank you for being exactly what I needed, when I needed it. To you!" She raised her voice and as the crowd again exploded with returned cheers and applause, she lowered her flute to her lips and sipped the sweet bubbly wine inside.

The party continued on jovially for several hours, everyone taking the opportunity to share a few words of congratulations and encouragement with Rory. Eventually Rory found herself back in the apartment near campus she'd shared with Logan for the past two years tiredly lounging on their couch. She smiled at him as he handed her a bottle of water and settled beside her, both of them shifting here and there until they found a comfortable position and relaxed into the cushions and each other.

"It was a nice party." Logan said simply.

"It was," Rory agreed softly. "I worried a bit while they were planning that Grandma and Mom would go completely overboard. But it was a very nice party. They did good."

Logan kissed the top of her head. "Still thinking about all the job offers, or are you leaning towards any one in particular?"

"I'm still thinking," Rory told him, sighed and admitted, "I guess I'm sort of partial the Stamford offer because I know the offices and staff there. Plus it's relatively close to home."

"It is. And it's not a bad offer." He commented.

"But there are better ones. And the truth is that the offers in Baltimore and Alexandria are probably better places to launch my career."

"True. The Alexandria offer will lock your focus to politics for the foreseeable future though." Logan shifted slightly, sliding his hand to more securely hold her far hip. "Baltimore will give you more variety, more opportunity to explore different topics and fields."

"The Baltimore offer is only for eight months though," she commented as a counter argument.

He moved his head in a slight nod. "That leaves you free to move if the city isn't for you, or simply to look for something else, something bigger or better elsewhere."

"It would be a good place to flesh out my portfolio and it is a good offer." Rory admitted after a moment of silent contemplation. Then after another moment of comfortable silence she murmured, "What about you?"

"What about me?" He asked, though he knew she had to be wondering what he intended to do next.

"Well," she began, shifting slightly to look him in the eye. "I know Mitchum wants you in New York."

"He would like me in New York." Logan agreed but said nothing more.

"Logan," she said firmly. "Come on."

"What?" he countered and looked pointedly back at her. "I told you to pick whichever of the myriad offers you received that you liked best, and I'd figure something out from there."

"It can't be that easy." Rory argued.

"It is."

"Logan." She frowned.

"Rory," he replied with a smirk. "I'm a Huntzberger and HPG owns papers everywhere. You pick the paper and the place you want to start out, and I'll find something as close as I can get."

"But surely Mitchum has insisted that he wants you in New York. I mean, you were able to talk him around to just six months in London after your graduation last year. Which was great and I'm still so grateful that he gave me that internship at the London paper so that I could spend the summer there with you. But surely that compromise of six months was contingent on something, and with all the hints and comments that he and Elias have been making lately, I assume it was for you to be in New York by now." Rory rambled and he smiled a bit at her words.

"Yes, they would like me to choose New York." He explained. "But Ace there was no contingency. I wanted to stay here until you graduated, they wanted me to go to London for as much as a year. We compromised on six months last year and with the way it worked out, everyone was happy."

"Are you sure?" She asked searching his gaze.

He chuckled. "I'm sure, Ace. Neither dad nor grandpa are going to be upset if I don't end up in New York for a year or two. It's the end goal, sure, but it doesn't have to be the next step."

"So if I decided to take the Baltimore offer," She began, only to have him pick up her line of thought.

"I'll be in Baltimore with you." He assured her. "Or Stamford. Or Alexandria. Or any one of the other cities that offered you a place at their paper."

She bit her lip a moment. "Okay."

"Okay?" Logan asked and raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean we're going to Baltimore?"

"I don't know," she replied wrinkling her nose. "Maybe?"

"You don't have to decide this moment." He promised.

"I just want to think about it for another day or so." Rory explained sheepishly.

Logan laughed and shifted them both enough so he could capture her lips with his own. The kiss lingered for several long, languish minutes. As he pulled back, one hand came up to run down the length of her hair.

"Take as long as you need."

She smiled at him and then shifted around until she could, once again, rest comfortably against him. They stayed like that, peacefully together, for nearly 20 minutes before she sighed and pushed up to a sitting position.

"If we don't go to bed now, we're going to end up falling asleep on the couch. And I don't know about you, but I definitely need my beauty sleep before the ceremony tomorrow." Rory told him, rising to her feet. She turned to face him and held out her hand to help him up. He gazed at her with a strange expression on his face for a moment and then took her hand. Sitting forward he reached for her other hand and held both between them.

Finally he smiled at her, and she smiled in return, and said, "I love you, Ace."

"I love you too," she responded with a soft laugh.

"Marry me?" He asked simply.

"What?" Her previous laugh is chocked off as she gasped her surprise.

"I know that meeting you, that being with you has changed my life immeasurably. These past couple years have been some of the best of my life, and despite all the bad that we've gone through, I've never been happier. I know that that's because of you, Rory." As he spoke she lowered herself to sit on the coffee table directly in front of him, her hands still held in his. "I am willing to follow you anywhere you need to go right now, because I know that if sometime in the future I needed you to, you'd do the same for me. And through all of that, I know that so long as we're together, I'll be the happiest man alive."

She released a trembling breath and whispered his name. "Logan."

"I love you, Rory," he said firmly. "Marry me."

They leaned towards one another and their foreheads braced against each others. She was silent for a moment and he saw her worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. He released one of her hands to raise his to her lip, where he pulled it free and smoothed the pad of his thumb across its surface.

"Marry me, Ace." He breathed.

She lifted her head from his and met his gaze. Held it.

"Yes." She told him and watched a new radiant light fill his eyes. Watched a brilliant smile form on his lips. And repeated, "Yes."

*whew*

So that's it. The end. For this part of the Best saga anyways. I hope you all enjoyed this final chapter and the whole story. And again, thank you for reading - thank you to all of you who just discovered the story and plowed through all 27 chapters, and thank you to all of you who began this journey with me at one point or another through the past 13 years and stuck with it, and me.

THANK YOU ALL!

Very Sincerely ~Apalusa~

P.S... also, I'm not sure about any of you - but I sure like these last 4 words (I'm counting that double "yes's" as a single word) WAY better than the ones we got from the revival.

P.P.S... To clarify, I think the final four words of the revival (which ASP has admitted were always meant to be the final 4 words of season 7/the series) were great: powerful and life-altering, and strangely fitting. But as much as I can appreciate the "like mother, like daughter" ideology, I like the idea of giving Rory a different story from her moms.

P.P.S.S... I am steadily working on my post-revival story. I've got five finished chapters now, and now that I've fully finished Best I will be putting all my focus on to that new story. As I shared on my profile page, I am hoping to begin sharing my new story/stories this fall. I hope to find you reading them when they come out!

~Apalusa~