December 2014

As she gracefully stepped out of the car, Rory smoothed down the silver satin dress that she had picked out especially for the holiday season. It had been quite a while since she had graced one of her grandparent's festive parties but here she was, once again. Rory was in between jobs, having spent some time freelancing and now she was back in the area for the holidays, to spend some time with her family. Lorelai thought Rory was crazy for even considering to make an appearance at the Gilmore's Christmas party however, she didn't have a lot else planned and so she had accepted the invitation to attend.

Rory had however known that if she didn't turn up to the party with a date on her arm then she would have been on the receiving end of many pitiful looks from her grandmothers DAR ladies and would have to fend off numerous questions about her love life, or lack of it. Thankfully Rory had just the person waiting in the wings for such an occasion and for the party, she had asked Ryan, a friend that she had met through work to come along with her. He was never one to turn down a free salmon puff and they had actually gone out together once or twice in the past when they had first got to know each other. Nothing had really ever developed between them other than a quick drunken fumble at the end of the night but as they were more than comfortable in each other's company, they had kind of become each other's, go-to person and she knew that whatever happened, he'd no doubt make the evening slightly more bearable for her.

If she was being completely honest, there was another reason that Rory didn't really want to turn up to the party on her own and that was because she knew that her ex-boyfriend, Logan Huntzberger, was going to be in attendance. Emily hadn't been able to contain herself when she gleefully tipped Rory off that he'd be there, she had been holding onto the hope that one day the two of them would reconcile. Rory didn't exactly know how she felt about seeing Logan again. At best, it was a mixture of nerves and excitement along with a healthy dose of curiosity. Their break up had been traumatic and had taken her along time to get over. Although she had been the one who had turned down the marriage proposal, it wasn't how she had wanted their relationship to end. Rory had missed Logan for a long time until finally, she had managed to find a way to push him as far to the back of her mind as was humanly possible. Sure, the temptation to Google him often struck, especially late at night after a glass of wine or two but somehow she had always managed to resist temptation. Even when Facebook helpfully suggested that he was someone she might know, while the desire to know more about him was all encompassing, she knew there was no way that she could bring herself to press the 'Add Friend' button. Partly she was afraid of the rejection from him, but there was also another part of her that just didn't want to know how happy and successful his life had been without her in it.

Rory and Ryan walked into the already busy party. She nervously cast a cursory glance around the room as she held on to Ryan's arm.

"Rory! You made it!" Emily said happily as she caught sight of her granddaughter just walking into the room. "And aren't you a sight for sore eyes. That dress is just perfect on you. And who is this?" Emily said as she looked at the good looking man stood next to Rory.

"This is Ryan. Ryan, this is grandma" she smiled as she introduced them to each other. Rory knew at some point she'd be interrogated to within an inch of her life about the man that she had turned up with but thankfully, she knew that wouldn't happen at the party.

"It's nice to meet you, Ryan," Emily said curtly. "Okay, I'm going to go and check on the caterers," she said as she walked away.

"Did I say something wrong…actually, in fact, I said nothing at all!" Ryan looked at Rory with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, believe me, you don't have to say a word. It's not about you…" Rory waved her hand. "Forget about it. Now, I need a drink…" she said as she walked over to the bar. "Where are you going?" she said as she noticed that Ryan wasn't following her.

"Food!" he shrugged "Those salmon puffs are calling my name…" he winked.

Rory shook her head and ordered herself a martini, asking the bartender to make it a strong one. As she waited for her drink to be prepared she carefully scanned the room but there was no sign of the person that she was looking for. Rory sighed and relaxed a little. She didn't know really know why she was so worked up or why she had made an extra effort getting ready that evening. She kind of hated herself a little for that. What was she expecting? She didn't really know.

She picked up her drink and slowly walked over to admire the spectacular Christmas tree in the corner of the room, hoping to avoid her grandmother's friends for as long as possible. As she stood sipping her extra-strong martini, and occasionally staring into the bottom of her glass, swirling the olive around, she felt someone come up behind her. Rory didn't have to look up. She knew exactly who was close to her from the hairs that stood up on the back of her neck.

"Whatever answer you're looking for Ace, I'm not sure you're going to find it in there…"

Rory took a deep breath before she turned around and fixed on a smile. "Logan, it's really good to see you."

"It's good to see you too. What's it been…six, seven years?" he asked as he leaned in and kissed her chastely on the cheek.

"Yeah, about seven I think" Rory smiled.

She could feel her cheeks pinking a little and it felt like everyone in the room was looking at them – many of them had been there the night of Logan's proposal and they had been the talk of the town for months afterwards. She knew that she was just being paranoid though, they were old news now. The last time that their paths had crossed had been a somewhat awkward meeting not too long after her graduation, at a party for one of their joint friends. Rory had found it a pretty painful experience and from that point forward she had decided to decline future invites and eventually, as they were more Logan's friends than hers, the invites just stopped coming. She had been sad that she had lost those people from her life but she had accepted that was the way it was, but thankfully through the joys of modern technology and Facebook, she had recently reconnected with the girls and had enjoyed spending time with them again over the past year or so, when their busy schedules allowed.

"You look really good," Logan said "I take it life is treating you well?" he asked her.

"Well, I can't complain too much" she smiled.

Rory looked at her ex-boyfriend stood in front of her. He looked good. Too good. When he had leaned in and kissed her she had to do everything to stop herself grabbing hold of him to inhale his scent for a moment longer. Logan had always smelled good but the familiarity had almost made her go weak at the knees.

Logan noticed that Rory was a little guarded and she didn't seem like she wanted to be giving much away about herself. He had been intrigued when he'd heard that she'd be at the party – it was really one of the main reasons he was there. Rory had been a bit of an enigma for him, he'd been surprised that their paths had never crossed more frequently but they both had jobs that saw them travelling often and after they'd split up she had kind of dropped out of their social circle which was understandable. Logan had followed bits of her work online and had heard snippets from the girls over the past year or so but he was always reluctant to ask for more information. He hadn't wanted anyone to think that he was still hung up on her. And he wasn't really, he had moved on but he knew that deep down, she was the only woman he had ever loved and she was always going to have that pull. What wasn't helping him tonight was the fact that she looked dropped dead gorgeous, even better than he had remembered.

"So are you back in the area for good?" he asked.

"Oh, no. I'm just here for the holidays, I travel around a fair bit these days but I've got some downtime so…" Rory trailed off.

"Right, of course, the intrepid reporter. I've seen some of your stuff online…" he said with a smile.

"I hope it's some of my better stuff. It's not always easy writing on the road. It's hard to concentrate sometimes. What about you?" Rory shrugged "Where are you based these days…are you still in California?" she asked a little hesitantly. She didn't really know whether the subject of California would still be a little sensitive for him after all these years.

Logan shook his head "No, I am back living in London these days. I work with my dad again…" he added in way of explanation.

"Really?" Rory said in surprise with a raised eyebrow. She'd had known that he was spending time in London, she'd heard it from Rosemary but she'd never asked any more about it.

"Yeah," Logan laughed "It's all good though. I never really intended to be back working at HPG but sometimes life doesn't turn out the way you expected does it?"

Rory bit her lip a little "No, it doesn't" she wrinkled her nose and smiled.

"So…are you ever in London with work?" he asked.

"Only very occasionally," Rory said with a smile. She caught herself flirtatiously twiddling with her hair and cursed herself for giving off such a telltale sign.

"Well, why don't you look me up next time, we should get together, catch up properly," Logan said handing her his card with his number on.

"Sure, I'd like that" Rory smiled as she looked at the card he had handed her before popping it into her sequined clutch bag. "I guess, I had better go, I think he needs rescuing" she gestured over to where Ryan had been cornered by her grandmother's cousin Marion.

"Oh yeah of course. I don't want to monopolize all your time. Boyfriend?" Logan asked.

Rory was surprised that Logan had asked but she smiled at him and shook her head. "No, he's just a friend. Trying to keep the heat off, you know?"

"Oh I know" Logan smiled. He knew too well what she meant. He'd turned up at enough of his parent's parties dateless. "Well, take care Rory and don't be a stranger!" he said as he leaned in to kiss her goodbye. "I mean it, call me up if you're ever in town."

She nodded. "I will do. It was good to see you, Logan."

As much as she really wanted to, there was no way Rory could ignore the sparks that had flown as Logan had gently placed his hand on the small of her back as he had kissed her cheek. She wondered if Logan had felt it too but watching him now, stood on the other side of the room, he seemed to be completely unaffected by her, while she struggled to rest her eyes anywhere else.

As the party came to a close, Rory flopped down into the car next to Ryan who was her designated driver for the evening. He turned to look at her as she closed her eyes and pressed her head back against the seat.

"What's up with you? And, tell me, who was that guy you were flirting outrageously with tonight?" Ryan asked as he pulled the car away from her grandparent's house.

Rory opened her eyes and looked at him aghast. "I was not flirting with him!"

"Oh please! I've seen your moves Ror, I've been on the receiving end of them remember…" he teased. "A little hair twiddling here, a gentle touch on the arm there…"

She slapped him playfully. "Be quiet!"

"So come on…let's hear it? Who is the guy?" Ryan pressed on.

Rory sighed and pursed her lips. "The guy…is my ex-boyfriend, from college. I've not seen him in years until tonight that is" she said.

"A significant ex?" Ryan asked.

She shrugged and looked at him. "Well, I guess, yes. I mean, we used to live together when we were at Yale….and he kind of proposed to me" Rory said as she wrinkled her nose.

"So…yes, pretty significant. And what does that mean he kind of proposed to you? He either did or he didn't!" Ryan laughed.

"He did, yes, he proposed to me…and I said I couldn't marry him at that point because I wanted to concentrate on my career and didn't want to get caught up in the whole Huntzberger thing, so we split up" she said matter of factly.

"What Huntzberger thing…?" Ryan said. Being in the industry he was well aware of the family's importance and significance.

"He IS a Huntzberger, he's the son of Mitchum Huntzberger, you know the newspaper magnate" Rory rolled her eyes.

"Really! Wow Rory, you really do move in high circles. And? So now what?" he asked.

"And….nothing!" Rory shook her head. "We've not seen in a long time, we were just catching up a little," she said, as she tried to ignore the fact that when Logan had touched her it had felt like electricity was coursing through her veins.

"Right…," Ryan said sceptically. "It didn't look like nothing from where I was standing"

"Aww, are you jealous Ry?" Rory teased.

"That ship has most definitely sailed" Ryan shook his head at his friend.

Ryan pulled up the car outside Lorelai's house in Stars Hollow where he was dropping Rory off for the holidays before he headed back to his own home in Bridgeport.

Rory walked up the steps to the house and opened the door to find Lorelai still up in the kitchen, sitting at the table eating her way through the best part of a boysenberry pie.

"Pie?" Lorelai offered as Rory walked into the kitchen.

"You're still up? Not waiting for me I hope…." Rory said as she poured herself a coffee.

"Couldn't sleep. Plus I wanted to hear about the horrors of the party tonight…there was surely some scandal within the DAR or terrible mix-up with the caterers. Tell me, did my mother have any staff left by the end of the night?" Lorelai asked gleefully.

"You know mom, if you were so interested in the party, you could have just come along…" Rory said as she dug a fork into the pie.

"I couldn't" Lorelai shrugged. "Sick kid, what can you do?"

"So, convenient" Rory laughed.

Her mom, Lorelai and her boyfriend Luke had married in a whirlwind ceremony shortly after Rory had graduated from Yale. They'd had a tumultuous relationship but had finally reconciled at Rory's going away party and not long after the wedding, a surprise bundle in the shape of Theo, Rory's little brother had arrived in their lives. Rory had been so happy for her mom, that she was finally getting a shot at happiness.

"So what DID I miss?" Lorelai asked.

"Oh, you mean aside from me just turning into a blushing teenager in front of Logan…" Rory rolled her eyes.

Lorelai raised an eyebrow "Huntzberger?"

"The one and only" Rory said as she pushed the pie away.

"Did you know he was going to be there?" her mom asked her.

"Yeah…grandma told me" Rory admitted.

"Ah, so that explains the dress!" Lorelai smiled.

Rory picked up a napkin and threw it at her mom across the table. She knew her mom could read her like a book.

"So, Logan, huh. How was he?" Lorelai asked.

"He was good. He's back working with his dad and he lives in London now" Rory said.

Lorelai looked at her daughter as she tried to read her expression. "And? That's all?"

"Yes, mom, that's all…" she sighed.

"How did he look? You always swooned for Logan, was he still swoon-worthy?" her mom wriggled her eyebrows at her daughter.

Rory stood up and shook her head "And on that note…I'm off to bed."

"Spoilsport!" Lorelai called after her.

A/N: Here is the first chapter of my new story. I toyed with getting a lot written before I started posting it but then discovered I needed the motivation and validation from you guys to keep me writing, haha!

A few important points. This story is set after S7. I am pretending the Revival never happened but I may borrow a few things from it like names, situations etc… We're approximately eight years post-S7 and Rory has grown up a fair amount. The first few chapters are going to leap forward months at at time before we get into the present.

Any questions about this story - please ask, I'll try to answer. I look forward to your feedback!