Yes, yes I'm very late with this update I'm sorry. I was going to get this out before Christmas but I got really sick and then afterwards I had a hard time getting the motivation to write, to be honest. After sitting in my drafts for weeks, this chapter is finally finished. I hope you enjoy!

When Rory Gilmore was 18 there was a brief time during the spring of her senior year where every evening she and her mother would spend two hours at Luke's Diner, sheets and guides spread out all over the table they'd captured, methodically going over the various pros and cons of Harvard, Princeton and Yale.

Everyone in Stars Hollow told her to forget the pro-con lists and just go with Harvard; the university she grew up obsessed with, the university that seemed like the obvious choice. Except she didn't. Rory didn't go with the obvious, predictable, cliché choice, Harvard, and instead took the arguably riskier option, Yale. Everyone was thrilled for her; after all, to the townspeople of Stars Hollow an Ivy-League was an Ivy-League school regardless of whether it was Harvard or Yale as long as it made Rory happy, but still Rory knew her choice surprised people. It was the first time in her life she chose the unexpected, but it certainly wasn't the last.

It was when she started Yale that the amount of surprising, unexpected choices she made began to increase, not only in the quantity of choices made but also in the degree of risks each of these choices had. Some risks were small, like continuing to room with Paris despite her being Paris, but others were bigger, like her choosing to sleep with her married ex-boyfriend and later choosing to steal a boat with her current boyfriend. Some of these risks paid off; she and Paris formed a life-long friendship through their years together at Chilton and Yale. Some of these risks ended poorly; she got arrested for stealing a yacht and had this arrest on her permanent record for five years (as soon as the five years were up Rory was on the phone figuring out how to get it expunged from her record), which may have negatively impacted her career. Nonetheless, all these risky, unexpected choices made her who she was and she only regretted about a third of them, namely the whole 'affair with Dean' and 'stealing a yacht' events.

As Rory got older the impulsive choices continued. She took a job working on then-Senator Obama's campaign trail with only a couple of days to prepare. After that job ended due to budget cuts, she moved to New York City on a whim in hopes that she would find a job there. There she chased down every possible job opportunity she could find, traveling to God-knows-where for a lead, risks be damned. She chased after politicians, celebrities, in fact she ended up doing her piece on Naomi Shropshire after cornering her in a bathroom and proposing the article to her. That risk paid off in more ways than one; the article ended up being a hit, and it led her to London which was where she and Logan reconnected.

Then her grandfather died.

His death left the Gilmore women reevaluating their life choice. She knew Lorelai started questioning aspects of her relationship with Luke, and Rory later learned that her grandma was rebelling against her old life (what Rory would pay to have heard her mother call the DAR out on their bullshit using the term 'bullshit'). Rory herself was questioning less of her personal life and more of her career choices, or at least that's what she thought. Suddenly she didn't want to be chasing down leads that didn't interest her, instead she wanted something unique and meaningful. Funny how death causes you to suddenly care about meaning. Naomi was unique and Rory latched on to her, putting all her effort and energy into her New Yorker article.

Then she ran into Logan.

Beautiful, wonderful Logan who she loved dearly. He was impulsive and exciting and unique and meaningful. He was exactly what she needed She didn't mean to fall into old habits with him, she didn't mean to sleep with him, but she did and afterwards all she could think was "I don't want this to end". So Vegas was impulsively proposed. It was cheap and she failed at staying emotionally unaffected by it, but it was so easy to slip into old rhythms and so hard to leave.

Then Odette moved in. Then she ended it. Then he showed up to surprise her. Then they slept together. Then she found out she was pregnant.

The rest is history at this point, granted very recent history, but history nonetheless.

Now she was with him, in her car, driving to go get lunch at Luke's and to start planning their lives; his, hers, and the baby. She was done with impulsive, at least for now.

She may not have planned to get impregnated by her engaged ex-boyfriend (she was pretty sure most people didn't), but she was determined to plan the rest of her pregnancy and life out to the best of her ability.

That, of course, meant pro-con lists galore, which was exactly what Rory was planning on setting up as soon as they entered Luke's.

She and Logan had walked to Luke's, engaging in some casual small talk, tip-toeing around his recently ended engagement and his possible unemployment and their baby. It was still new and fresh and so awkward.

Rory couldn't help but leap for joy when they finally made it to Luke's, quickly ordering Logan to claim a table the second they entered as she made her way to the counter to get some coffee (decaf for her, sadly).

She leaned against the counter as Luke made his way towards her. She couldn't help but notice his usual grumpiness had dissipated a little since he and Lorelai made it official. Rory was happy for them. Her mother had been through so much and deserved someone who would help make her happy.

Luke caught her eye and made his way towards her with a frown. "I don't care what you say, I'm not giving you coffee."

"What about decaf?"

He sighs. "Fine, but you have a problem."

She shrugs. "Blame my mom."

He rolls his eyes, but Rory spots the small smile he's trying hard to hide. She grins.

As Luke gets her coffee, Rory looks down at the papers in her hands. The collection of notebook paper she holds is currently blank, but after a few minutes with Logan brainstorming and talking she's sure they'll be filled to the brim.

"Here you go," She looks up to see Luke handing her a cup.

She grins and takes it. "Thanks Luke."

He nods and she starts to head to the table Logan claimed when she hears Luke say her name. "Yeah?"

"What are you guys doing?" he asks, looking specifically at the papers she's holding.

"Planning. Gotta have paper for pro-con lists." She explains.

Luke arches a brow. "Here? Are you crazy?"

Rory frowns. That was not the reaction she was expecting. "What, why?"

He gives his this 'are you kidding me' look. "Why do you think? Kirk, Patty, if anyone gets a glimpse at your lists it won't take them long to connect the dots. Everyone will know by this afternoon."

"Shit!" Rory swears. "I can't believe I didn't think of that! I'm an idiot!"

Luke looks at her sympathetically and sighs. "If you guys want to you can use my apartment upstairs. There isn't much there, but I'm pretty sure there's a table for you to write on."

Rory shifts. On one hand it's the best option she has; she can get Luke's food and have privacy to work with Logan. However, on the other hand, his apartment has certain memories, specifically ones that involve Jess. Then again she and Jess dated almost 15 years ago, and she really didn't want to walk back to the Dragonfly Inn without having food in her.

She nodded, "That would be great, thanks."

Luke smiled, "Anytime. It's unlocked so feel free to head up."

She grinned and headed to the table to get Logan. He looked up from his copy of the Stars Hollow Gazette he snagged during their walk over and tilted his head to the side. "What's up, Ace?"

She gestured to behind the discrete doorway behind Luke's counter. "Luke's letting us use his old apartment upstairs to…work."

"Why?"

Rory sighed. "Let's just say the expression 'mind your own business' doesn't apply to Miss Patty or Kirk, and I'd rather not have the entire town know now."

"But won't us going upstairs be suspicious?"

She nodded. "Yeah but it's a less specific suspicion. They'll know we're up to something, but not what we're up to specifically."

Logan nodded and gathered his belongings up before following Rory behind the counter and up the stairs. She could feel everyone's eyes on them and she knew within minutes people would be talking and asking "hey why did that guy go upstairs with Rory? Who is he anyway?". Lorelai would probably get a few phone calls about it, and Luke would use his usual grumpiness to keep them from trying to pry anything from him (as if they could), all while Rory and Logan hid away from the world.

Home sweet home.

/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

"I talked to my father."

After setting up their stuff and sending Luke their order, Rory had insisted on getting straight to the point. Logan obliged, though Rory detected a hint of nervousness within him.

"About?"

He sighed. "I told him that Odette and I broke up, and that I was moving back to the States."

"What did he say?" Rory quietly asked, dreading his answer. The last thing she wanted was for him to give everything up at a moment's notice to be with her, to be with them.

Logan shrugged and leaned back. "He told me I knew what to do and sent me to my office to pack."

It was silent between them for a few minutes, and not the comfortable, loving kind of silence but instead the awkward, guilt-ridden kind that jabs at one's stomach.

"Logan…" Rory started, reaching for his hand.

"Rory, that's not all he said."

She was taken aback. "What?"

Logan sighed. "He called me back to his office about 20 minutes later. I figured he was going to yell at me or throw a stapler at my face but he didn't. Instead," he took a deep breath. "He gave me some business cards for a company out in Boston. He told me that he gave them a call and they're willing to hire me; no application, no interview, nothing but a call from my father."

Rory's mouth was gaped open, shocked by Mitchum's actions. "But…why…what?" she stammered out. "I don't get it."

"I have to admit, I didn't get it either at first but…" he trailed off, look down at his hands clasped together in his lap, unable to look her in the eye.

"But what, Logan?" she nudged him, desperate to know what he meant.

"I think he knows." Logan's voice barely rose above a whisper as he spoke. "I think somehow my father knows about…" he gestured to her stomach without saying a word.

Rory jumped up off the couch and began to pace. "No, he can't…but why…. Logan, I….how? How would he know?" She asked him exasperated.

He didn't move from where he was sitting, obviously nervous about her reaction to the news. "I don't know for sure, but I think he's been suspecting something for a while."

"How would he even know? We were careful." As soon as the words left her mouth she remembered.

"Remember when we saw him at lunch?"

Rory nodded and buried her face in her hands. Logan started to get up to comfort her, but suddenly she looked up and scowled at him. "That's your fault. You chose the restaurant, the one your family owns and eats at often. Why would you choose that restaurant, Logan?"

He took a step back, a guilty look plastered on his face. "I wanted him to see us. I wanted him to see that I hadn't completely given in to his 'dynastic plan'. It was stupid and immature, and I shouldn't have done it." He let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "It backfired anyway. It led to Odette moving in."

Rory's eyes widened and she crossed her arms. "What?"

Logan shrugged. "I didn't want her to move in and she didn't want to either, but my father got our families to pull some strings and guilt us into moving in together. It was stupid, it was dumb. Everything was dumb."

Rory was quiet. It was dumb. Their affair, the cheating, it was all dumb. It could've all been resolved if they were smarted and actually talked to one another like they used to do. She wanted to reach out and hug him, tell him it wasn't his fault and they were both idiots, but first she needed to know something. "How does him getting or securing or whatever this job in Boston make you think he knows?"

He shakes his head. "It's because of the stupid world they live in. Rory," he's still and his face is all wrinkled and she knows he's being as serious as he possibly can. "It isn't going to look good, to be honest. Me leaving Odette, you being…" he clears his throat, still unable to actually say the word 'pregnant'. "The DAR ladies will have a party with this information because that's how high society words, however, it looks worse on my family if I'm jobless during this. I'm sure I can get a job anywhere, but it looks better for them if my father secures me a job when this is starting. It makes them look kind, sympathetic."

"And probably makes us look awful."

He didn't say anything, but after a moment he slowly opened his arms. Without even thinking she rushed over to him and let him wrap his arms around her.

"We're made such a mess, huh?"

Logan's quiet but leans forward to lightly kiss the top of her head.

They stand there for a few minutes in comfortable silence, content in each other's arms before she asks the question he's been dreading:

"Are you going to take the job?"

He sighs. "It depends. I want to know what you want first, where you want to live, what you want to do."

"I'm fine with Boston."

"Really, Ace?"

She nods. "I like cities and Boston's not that far away from here."

"It's cold."

"I grew up in New England, Huntzburger. The cold doesn't bother me."

He chuckled and she can feel his chest lightly going up and down against her. She's missed that feeling.

"I'm really fine with Boston, Logan, but do you want the job?"

He doesn't answer right away, instead taking a moment to collect his thoughts. "I do. I hate that it came from my father but, I like the work. I like what I do and if I can keep doing it then I'd like that."

Rory nods. "Okay then. Boston it is."

He looks down at her, love and joy radiating in his eyes, a smile curved upon his lips. "Boston it is."