Author's note: And now, back to this story. It's the final stretch... two more chapters after this one, and I don't know about you, but I'm excited to get back into it!

Chapter 10 - The Best Of Me (Is Still Hiding Up My Sleeve)

They love to tell you
Stay inside the lines
but something's better
on the other side ~ No Such Thing

"Wait, wait, wait," Lorelai could barely form a coherent sentence, she was laughing so hard. "He actually forgot that you were moving in?" Another fit of giggles erupted on her end of the phone line. "Like, he didn't just doublebook himself, no, he forgot. That you, his girlfriend. Was moving across the country to move into his house?"

Rory sighed. Maybe telling her mother had been a mistake. "It's really not that funny, Mom."

"No, you're right, it's not. It's hilarious," Lorelai said seriously. "Rory, he's been after you to move in with him for what? Forever now it seems! And then he forgets?" She began laughing all over again. "I really hope you're making his life miserable for that one."

"I'm not, actually," Rory said stubbornly.

Lorelai finally regained her composure. "Okay, so for real, let's talk about this. Were you furious?"

"I was upset, but I didn't lose my head over it," she admitted. "There would have been no point, and I've got to get used to his business trips again anyways; he just had one sooner than I had expected." She smirked to herself. "He more than made up for it, as it is."

"I'm going to skip over that sentence and not think about whatever that could mean." Lorelai sighed into the phone. "So you're really over there? Now that you've moved to Sweet Valley, are you all bleached blonde and tanned?"

"Pretty sure Sweet Valley was near LA, but no, I'm not a Wakefield twin just yet," Rory promised. "And yes, I'm really here and all settled in and you know what? It's really not so bad."

"Well you kind of have to say that now that you live there finally," Lorelai pointed out. "I am glad to hear that you're enjoying yourself so far though." She hesitated. "I know it's only been a week, but have you begun the job search again?"

This time Rory hesitated. "Actually, I might..." she sighed. "Mitchum offered me a chance to submit something to any of his publications," she spit out quickly.

Lorelai was silent for a minute. "You're thinking about writing again?"

"I am. I've been working on something here and there, but I'm not really sure where it fits into. It's not groundbreaking by any means, more of a social commentary, I guess, but it's writing, and I'm really happy to be writing again," she confessed.

"Okay." She could hear Lorelai smiling through the phone. "Well, I don't know what to say Rory, that's really great. I always knew you'd end up writing again."

"You did?"

"I know you better than anyone else, Kid, don't you dare forget that." Lorelai paused thoughtfully. "You know what else I like? He's not straight out giving you a job."

"He knows I wouldn't take it if he did,"

"Exactly, he's making an effort to do things the right way. Logan's family hasn't really stepped up like that before, you know?"

"I know."

"So while Logan was gone, did you search that house for your engagement ring?" Rory's silence told her everything she needed to know. "Good girl! Did you find anything?"

"No!" Rory's tone was that of pure frustration. She had felt guilty at the time she was snooping through things, but now, knowing she hadn't been able to find anything, she was just plain irritated by it. "There's no ring anywhere!"

Lorelai laughed. "Well, he's probably smart enough to not keep it in the house," she pointed out logically. "I mean, since he now lives with a snooper."

"Shut up! I just... " she sighed. "I moved out here, like we planned, and the next step in our plan was to get married, you know?"

"Was the plan to get married immediately after moving out there?"

"No but... I mean... we didn't exactly discuss time frames," she confessed. "Just that we'd do it when the time was right."

"Then my guess is, the time's not quite right yet. You know it's coming Rory, not knowing when isn't something to get stressed over."

"You know I hate surprises."

"And you know that Logan loves them," Lorelai pointed out.

"I know," she grumbled. They fell into a comfortable silence for a few moments before Lorelai wisely changed the subject to the latest antics of Stars Hollow.

Twenty minutes later Rory wandered from the living room into Logan's office. He was so focused on the file he was reading that he didn't even notice her standing in the doorway. She stood there for a few seconds, watching him, before clearing her throat softly.

He looked up and smiled. "Hey." He motioned for her to come toward him. "How's Lorelai? Did you guys have a good talk?" She perched herself on the edge of his desk, careful not to disturb anything and nodded.

"Mom's good, she and Luke seem to be doing really well." She leaned back and scanned his desk. "I'm not bothering you, am I? I just wanted to come in and say hi."

He laughed. "I'm not working, not officially. This is all LDB business."

She raised an eyebrow and tried to grab the papers out of his hand but he was too quick for her. "The LDB? Seriously? I thought once you were past the age of 25, you weren't allowed into their super cool parties anymore." She reached again for the papers but he held them just out of reach.

"Call it an alumni meeting of sorts then." He shrugged.

She frowned. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the last stunt end with you in the hospital with several broken ribs, a concussion and a lot of pain?"

"That wasn't an official event, that was me being stupid after you and I had a fight," he reminded her.

"Oh right, that's so much better. Still." She kicked his shin lightly. "You're not twenty-two, Logan, jumping off of scaffolding isn't as easy as it used to be. I'm not saying you're out of shape by any means, but well, you do spend an awful lot of your time sitting at a desk now."

He pretended to look offended. "Are you saying I'm not as lithe and limber as I used to be? Rory Gilmore, are you calling me old?" He was out of his chair and had her flat on her back on his desk before she even knew it. Papers scattered around them and they were both laughing. "Would an old man be able to do this so easily?" he asked, leaning fully over her to kiss her.

"God I hope so," she murmured, enjoying his hands on her. She laughed as he pulled back and raised an eyebrow to her. "I'm just saying, we'll be old eventually. I'd very much prefer you always be able to do this."

"Me too," he agreed, bending low to kiss her again. "So, I saw you writing pretty intently earlier today," he mentioned, lifting himself off of her.

Okay. Kissing time was over. Rory accepted the hand he offered her to pull herself up and ran a hand through her hair. "I was," she agreed cautiously.

"What are you working on?"

"Something for your dad," she said casually. She began reorganizing the papers on his desk, trying not to make eye contact.

He stared at her for a moment. "Yes, that sounds like something I'd absolutely want to read," he teased lightly. She smiled but didn't answer him. "Is it really a secret?" he pressed.

She shrugged nonchalantly. "You know I don't like sharing my stuff before its finished," she reminded him. "And I'm not even sure if this is any good, so I'm not getting my hopes up or anything."

"Well what's the subject matter?" he asked, hoping to get at least that out of her. He had been secretly thrilled when he had come down into the kitchen that morning to see her propped up at the breakfast bar with a cup of coffee and typing away furiously at her computer. He had recognized Writing-Mode Rory almost immediately, even if it had been years since he'd been privy to it and was happy to see her working her way back towards print.

Rory shrugged again and he could see she was uncomfortable with the conversation so he decided not to push it further. "Check this out," he said, motioning to a stack of papers to the left of where she was sitting. He took the top page and handed it to her. "Colin emailed it over this morning."

"What is it?" She scanned the email and then with wide eyes, flipped to the next page. "Jen Buckner is pregnant?" Her eyes narrowed as she raised an eyebrow. "It better not be yours."

"Robert's," he said with a smirk. He laughed at the expression on her face. "I guess they really hit it off at my parent's party."

"I guess so." She quickly read through Colin's entire email. "Wait, there's a paternity suit pending? I'm shocked." She frowned as she looked up at him. "Why are you and Colin exchanging emails on what I'm assuming is strictly confidential matters?"

Logan shrugged. "Sometimes, it's too good to keep quiet," he reasoned.

"I bet Jen would beg to differ." She set the pages down on the desk again and another stack caught her eye. "HPG shareholdings?"

"Oh that." Logan tried to look nonchalant. "I figured it couldn't hurt to get an idea of where the company was at financially, you know? Maybe start putting together a plan to present to everyone if it came down to it. Feel free to look at it," he said hastily.

"Nah, that's okay," she said casually. She had no interest in the financial side of the business and they both knew it. Still, Rory appreciated the sentiment. She slid off of the desk and bent to kiss Logan's cheek. "I'll let you get back to work, I've got some stuff to do this afternoon."

"Stuff? What kind of stuff?"

"Does it matter?" she asked innocently. They both knew she was going to go hide out in the bedroom and continue writing, but she wasn't about to commit to that.

He gave her a wide smile. "Of course it doesn't. You have fun with your stuff." He looked at his watch. "I've got a couple of hour's worth of work left to do here; how about I come find you when I'm done, and we'll go out and do something fun for the afternoon?"

"Sounds like a plan." She smiled at him again before leaving the office and heading into their bedroom.

When she had started writing again, she hadn't planned on doing the majority of her writing in their bedroom, but as it turned out, the windowseat that overlooked the backyard had quickly become her favorite spot in the entire house. The sunlight was never directly in her eyes, but provided enough light and warmth during the day to stay consistently pleasant and the view was either inspiring or distracting, depending on what she needed it to be at any given moment. She could curl up against the pillows with her latop and write for hours without even realizing it.

And that's exactly what happened. Before she knew it, Logan knocked on the door frame and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Sorry." He laughed at her. "I thought you heard me in the hallway."

She saved her work and closed the computer. "Get your important LDB business done?"

"Maybe." His gaze turned towards the window. "Want to go to the beach?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Let's just hang out here," she countered. "The backyard's basically the same as the beach," she pointed out. "Just not as many people."

Logan nodded. "Planning on going topless," he said as seriously as he could.

"Shut up." She smacked his arm as she brushed past him to change into her swimsuit.

"It's okay if you are," he called after her. "We both know I'm a big fan of it."

"You're an idiot," she yelled back from the depths of the closet. He was about to answer when she heard his cell phone ring. It was Finn, she was able to establish that before she heard him say he needed to step out of the room to finish the call. That was interesting, she thought to herself. He never took his phone calls in private unless it was work related. Then she remembered that he had been working on Life and Death Brigade stuff and assumed it had to have something to do with that. And LDB business was never a comforting thought, especially after Logan's adventure in Costa Rica.

It wasn't until she was dressed and heading downstairs that she was struck by the thought that maybe, just maybe the Life and Death Brigade business had something to do with their impending engagement.

And once that thought was in her head, there was no getting it out.

"So you think this is it, huh?" Lorelai asked. It was three days later and Rory had just finished telling her mother about her suspicions over Logan involving the LDB in their engagement.

"How could it not be?" Rory asked as she leaned closer to the mirror to fix her eyeliner. "He brings up the LDB out of nowhere, he's been super sweet the last couple of days, and when I came home tonight, there was a dress laid out with instructions for me to dress for dinner, because we're meeting Finn and Rosemary. What else could it be?"

"You really think he'd turn your engagement into an LDB event?" Lorelai asked skeptically. "I mean, no offense Hon, but look how well his asking you in public did the last time. Would he set himself up like that again?"

Rory considered this. "You have a point," she conceded. "But what if he's just using them to help set things up? Maybe they won't be there during the actual proposal, but you know, behind the scenes?"

"I think you're stretching," Lorelai said finally. "But who knows, I've been wrong a couple of times before, you know."

"I don't know, I think this is it," Rory said confidently.

"What are you going to say when he asks?"

"Mom!"

"Well, it's a valid questions," Lorelai said defensively. "Again, look what happened before."

"I really wish people would stop bringing up the last time."

"Kind of hard to do when it happened so publicly," Lorelai said heartlessly. She drew in a long breath. "So seriously, Rory, what are you going to say when he asks?"

"I'm going to say yes."

At least she would have, if he had asked her that night. No, in reality the evening was exactly what he had told her it was going to be; dinner with Finn and Rosemary and a few people from Logan's office. A perfectly pleasant evening where Logan and Finn filled them in on the Life and Death Brigade alumni event that would be taking place in the summer.

And when they got home at the end of the night and Rory stormed upstairs to take a shower, locking Logan out, he was confused to say the least, but didn't want to push it. Instead, he waited until they were both in bed before he tried to ask what was wrong, but she brushed him off, saying everything was fine. The next morning she acted as though nothing had happened; making an elaborate breakfast for the two of them to thank him for the night out and the pretty new dress.

Because, she reasoned to herself. He was going to ask her any day now, no sense in getting mad it hadn't happened that night.

Oh yes, any day now.

"What do you think?" Logan asked as he opened the front door and waited for her to walk in ahead of him. "Should we add that place to our list of favorites or was it just okay?"

Rory shrugged. "It was okay, but seriously, singing waiters?"

"Yeah, I hadn't been expecting that either." Logan was surprised that while he headed for the stairs, Rory was making her way to the kitchen. "You can't be hungry already," he admonished her. "Three desserts, Rory. There were three desserts after that meal."

She made a face at him over her shoulder. "Water," she said simply. "You heading up to bed?"

He nodded. "You coming?"

"In a minute." He was satisfied with her answer and continued upstairs while she ducked into the kitchen. Standing in front of the sink, she stared out the window into the backyard as she waited for the water to run cold. Lights from the neighboring yards danced across their deck and cast shadows around the avocado tree.

He hadn't proposed. She had been there for nearly three months and he had yet to ask her to marry him. She grimaced as she realized she had another 'I told you so' phone call coming from Paris in the morning. She had been so sure this time, too. Even more sure than the last four date nights they had been on where she had been positive the proposal was coming.

Today he had come home from work and asked if she'd mind going out to dinner as opposed to staying in, saying he felt like celebrating. She had agreed, assuming that the work-related reason he had given her was merely to throw her off and she had, once again, put more time and consideration into getting ready than was really necessary. Turns out, he really had just wanted to celebrate a work success and she was left feeling foolish once again.

Finally, she headed up the stairs herself, turning the lights off as she went. She paused in the hallway just outside of their bedroom door for a moment and watched as he was getting ready for bed. His clothes already lay in a pile on the floor next to the open closet; a habit she hadn't been able to break him of yet, and he was in the bathroom, getting ready to brush his teeth. He winked at her through the mirror and she couldn't help but smile back as she kicked off her shoes and bent to pick up his clothes, deliberately putting them into the hamper. She paused by the dresser to remove her jewelry, dropping the necklace into its designated box before reaching up to take out her earrings. Logan's reflection frowned at her and she tilted her head to the side. "What's up?"

"You usually ask for help with your necklace," he said. "It's kind of one of my favorite parts of our bedtime routine." He frowned before spitting mouthwash into the sink. "Does it make you feel old that we have a bedtime routine?"

"Not as old as picking your clothes up off of the floor," she teased as she joined him in the other room. "Here." She twisted so he could reach her back. "I still can't reach the zipper on this dress, if that makes up for it." His left hand swept her hair over her shoulder and held it there while his right went for the zipper. She shivered as his fingers brushed the back of her neck before grasping the zipper and pulling it down. "Thanks," she said with a smile, holding the dress up with one arm as she went back to the dresser.

"Welcome." He caught her hand at the last moment and tugged lightly until she was back in front of him. She raised an eyebrow at him but didn't resist when he bent his head to hers and kissed her. "I really like that dress," he commented as he released her. "Is it new?"

"New-ish," she said with a nod. It was brand new, but she wasn't about to tell him it was the latest in her collection of "I thought I was getting engaged tonight" dresses.

"I like it," he said again. He exited the bathroom and gave her a swift pat to the backside as he passed by her. She rolled her eyes and went into the bathroom again, this time to rinse off her make up.

When she came out, fresh-faced and dressed in her pajamas, Logan was already in bed. She was a little surprised to see he had a few work files spread out on his side of the bed but she shrugged it off and made her way barefoot to her own side. She didn't miss the way his eyes slid over her bare legs as she tucked them under the blankets and gave him a look. "What?"

"Nothing," he said smiling. She rolled over onto her side to give him a disbelieving look. His eyes turned back to his paperwork and she just stared at him for a moment. Without looking up, he reached over and threaded a hand through her hair. "Something on your mind, Ace?"

She hesitated but shook her head and rolled back over to her side of the bed and picked up the book laying on the nightstand. "I had fun tonight," she said as she flipped through it, trying to find where she had last left off.

"I'm glad." He glanced at her sideways but she pretended to be too involved in her book to notice. "Hey." He waited until she looked up before pulling her to the center of the bed. "Are you sure you're okay? You're quiet tonight."

"You're working," she protested. "I didn't want to distract you."

"You lying in our bed and showing that much leg was going to be a distraction no matter what," he said as seriously as he could. She dug her elbow into his ribcage before settling back against him and picking up her book again.

She must have dozed off some time later because the next thing she knew, Logan was taking the book from her hands and pulling the duvet over them. He reached over to shut the lamp off and her eyes popped open.

"Why didn't you ask me to marry you?" She squeezed her eyes shut as the lamp clicked back on and sure enough, when she finally opened them again, he was staring at her as though she was insane.

"I.. What?" He sat up a little straighter in the bed and looked down at her as though she was crazy. "I did ask you, remember? You said no."

"Oh!" She sat up and reached behind her to grab her pillow before hitting him with it. "You know that's not what I meant! I mean now! Tonight! Last week, the week before that! I've been here for almost three months, Logan!"

He blinked. "Had we set a time limit?"

"No," she admitted. "But...you do still want to marry me, right?"

"More than anything," he said with a nod of his head. The corners of his mouth lifted. "Why Rory Gilmore, can it be that you're actually asking, no, begging me to ask you to marry me?"

She scowled. "You don't have to say it like that."

"Oh, but I do. Please, just give me a few seconds to enjoy the irony of this situation."

"Jerk!" She grabbed for her pillow again but he caught her wrists before she could swing it and they were both laughing when he finally pulled it from her grasp. He tossed the pillow to her side of the bed while holding her hands in one of his.

"Rory, I want to marry you," he said again. "And, I'd be lying if I said that right now the fact that you've been waiting so anxiously doesn't make me happy. It makes me happier than you can imagine. I haven't asked you yet because not too long ago we were fighting to get to this spot we're at right now. And that was a long battle, and I enjoy where we're at. I like the whole not fighting thing we've got going on, and I love that we're back living together. This is all I wanted." She opened her mouth to protest and he held up his hand. "For now. This is all I wanted for now."

She bit down on her lower lip. "You're afraid I'm still going to bail, aren't you?"

"I was," he agreed. "At first. I don't think that anymore. Haven't for awhile now."

"But then why haven't-"

"Because I promised you an ending made of storytelling gold," he reminded her.

"Logan, you know I don't care about any of that." She began to protest but he cut her off again.

"Oh really?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. He sighed at her defiant nod. "Okay then, fine. Here's the truth. I have a ring for you. It's in this house right now. Should I just go get it and we'll be done with this whole proposal thing?" She didn't say anything so he tossed the blankets aside and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

"Logan, wait." She caught his arm and stopped him from getting up.

He smiled triumphantly before turning the lamp off again. "It's okay to admit it matters a little bit," he said, tapping her on the nose.

"It matters," she grumbled, letting him pull her into an embrace. They were both smiling as he pulled back from the kiss and pushed her bangs out of her eyes.

"You're damn right it matters," he shot back playfully. "I don't do anything half-assed, you really should know that by now."

She frowned and ran her thumb over his jawline. "You know I don't need or even expect some huge thing, right?"

"I know." He bent down and kissed her again. "But don't forget, I have a reputation to uphold." She laughed into his mouth and didn't fight as his hands moved to the drawstring on her shorts. Seconds later they were kicked off somewhere near the end of the bed, joined quickly by his before he rolled her underneath him and slid his hands back down the length of her body.

They had just established a steady rhythm between them when her eyes went wide and she scrambled to get out from underneath him. He sucked in a sharp breath and held her down by her arms, trying to keep both of them from getting hurt. "What?" he ground out through clenched teeth.

"I've searched every square inch of this house for that ring!" she exclaimed. "Where could you possibly have hidden it?"

He stared down at her, speechless as he tried to catch his breath. "Seriously? That's what you're thinking of at this very second?" He pushed back into her gently to prove his point.

Rory, to her credit, had the grace to let a look of shame wash over her face before she smiled wickedly up at him and wound her arms around his neck, pulling him down closer. "It won't happen again," she murmured into his throat as her legs wrapped around his waist.

But seriously, she had searched every possible spot in that house.

"Good morning!" Violet craned her neck to get a better view of Rory's still ringless hand. "Still nothing?"

"Still nothing," Rory said with an eyeroll. "And I still can't find the damn thing!" It had been two weeks since Logan had admitted the ring was in the house but it still wasn't on her finger. "I have to tell you, Vi, I'm getting a little nervous. What could he possibly be planning?"

"Nothing!" Violet scoffed. "He's a man. I guarantee he hasn't planned a thing yet and is just stringing you along until he does come up with something."

"Maybe." Rory shrugged but was confident that wasn't the case. She yawned and settled herself into the make up chair. Last week, Violet had called her in a panic, saying that her mid-morning show's co-host had ran off for parts unknown with no notice and was there any way Rory could possibly fill in for a few days until either Rachel came back or was replaced permanently.

To slide back into morning talk show habits had been terrifying to say the least, but she had worked with Violet before, and after the first half of the first show was over, Rory had found herself completely at ease in front of the cameras again and was again, debating whether or not what direction to take her career.

She had submitted several different pieces to Mitchum over the last couple of weeks and was waiting as patiently as she could to hear back but the truth was, she was going crazier each day she had to spend in that house without actually working. When Violet had called her she hadn't even thought twice about filling in and so far, she was loving every second of it. It was more Kathy Lee and Hoda than it was informative news, but she was okay with that. If anything, she was at least broadening her skillset and maybe that would work in her favor.

The audience had fallen in love with her, if she was to believe the social media commentary Logan would read to her as she got ready for bed each night. She just laughed it off, teased him that he was jealous and reminded him that it wasn't permanent. Secretly though, she was happy with all of it.

Logan had noticed it too. Never in a million years would he have guessed that Rory would thrive in television, but each morning she was proving him wrong.

"So what are we talking about today?" Rory asked, turning her attention back to Violet.

Violet just laughed, but had the presence of mind to look repentant. "This show was in the works before you came on board, I want you to remember that. And also, that Rachel had just gotten engaged three weeks before and had shared the news with the audience, so..."

"What?" Rory rolled her eyes as she scanned the sheet of paper in her hand. "Oh you have got to be kidding me! Planning the perfect wedding? Logan's going to think I planned this!"

"I'm sorry!" Violent held up her hands in defense. "I swear, I didn't even remember this show was coming up. But seriously, we can have a lot of fun with it if we play it right. Who knows? Maybe Logan will get some ideas from the guest we have booked."

"Great." Rory just shook her head and continued reading over the notes. As their make-up was being finished they chatted about ideas for that day's show and gossipped over Rachel, whom Violet had heard had eloped with her fiance and had no plans of coming back anytime soon.

Before she knew it, they were well into their third commercial break and the show was going as well as it could, even with the last minute changes of not being able to talk to Rachel about her upcoming wedding planning.

After the break, their next guest was a well-known blogger who had been chronicling her relationship from the first date right through the proposal and was now detailing all of the wedding planning for her ceremony, which was two months away. They had moved to the studio kitchenette, as Cherie was about to show them how to prepare the meal she was convinced had led her fiance to propose to her in the first place.

"Rory, are you taking notes?" Violet teased as Cherie began mixing things. She then explained cheerfully to the crowd how Rory had been with her boyfriend off and on for about five years now and how there had been talk of a wedding in their future.

"Off and on, been there," Cherie commiserated, handing Rory a glass of wine. Who cared if it was only 11:30 in the morning, Violet was never one to turn down a glass of wine, and they had decided it was an important step to cooking this dinner.

"Well, we're definitely more on now than off," Rory said lightly. "In fact, it was at Vi's wedding that we reconnected and well," she took a sip out of her glass. "Now I'm just waiting until he shows me the ring."

"Honey, we're all waiting," Violet assured her as she chopped up the handful of vegetables Cherie had assigned her. "Rory and her boyfriend have this whole William and Kate thing going on. We all know it's meant to happen, it's just a matter of when."

"Waiting's the hardest part," Cherie agreed as she tossed some onions into a skillet and stepped aside as they sizzled. "It took Stuart almost four days to propose after we talked about getting married."

Violet snickered. "Four days! Rory's been waiting, what? At least 4 months now, right?"

"It hasn't been that long," Rory protested with a shake of her head. "It's been a few months, but really, it's fine! The waiting is hard, yes, but if you ever met my mother, you'd understand. Gilmore's are not a patient breed of people and we hate surprises." As the word suprisesleft her mouth, she saw something shiny flash out of the corner of her eye. She blinked and turned her attention back to Cherie who was explaining how to make the base for her pasta sauce but a few seconds later, she saw the flash again and this time there was noise behind it. She was in the middle of asking Cherie another question when she glanced back over her shoulder dismissively, only to do a double-take and completely forget what she had been saying.

Two of the stagehands were wheeling a platform onto the stage next to them, and on that platform was a statue of a suit of armor, except... she squinted. It wasn't a statue at all.

It was Henry!

One of yesterday's topics of conversation had been about buyer's remorse and Rory had spent some time talking about when she moved into Logan's apartment the thing that had freaked her out the most was his suit of armor. Henry was still in storage, but since it had become kind of a running joke between the two of them and how she had kind of wished she had agreed to let him move it into their house now.

And now, Henry was being wheeled right in her direction. One of the arms was bent with the palm of a glove facing up, cradling a small box. Coincidence, my ass, she thought to herself as she looked at Violet suspiciously. Violet, the rat, just shrugged innocently.

"So, what's going on here?" she asked cautiously, wiping her hands on the towel that lay on the counter. Remembering that the cameras were rolling - oh my god, the cameras are rolling, this is live television! - Rory took a deep breath and faced camera one as she walked toward the platform. "If you were watching yesterday, you remember me talking about my boyfriend's most idiotic purchase ever, his suit of armor. Well this." She gestured to the suit of armor. "This is Henry. With a gift for me?" She reached to take the box from the upturned hand and was so startled when the hand dropped that she shrieked, much to the delight of Violet and the sound guys. "This is not Henry!" she gasped, her hand pressed into her chest.

Much to her surprise, the suit of armor moved again, this time reaching up with the empty hand to lift the headplate. Logan's eyes peered out at her and she gasped again before she could stop herself. She should not have been as shocked as she was.

"What are you doing?" she cried as he dropped down to one knee.

Logan laughed gently and craned his head to look past her over to Violet. "She's a little slow in the morning, isn't she?" He turned back to her, reaching for both of her hands. "I promised you storytelling gold," he reminded her again. "And I can't think of a better ending than this, can you?"

"Is this really happening?" she asked, still not entirely believing it was. "You're really doing this?"

"I really am," he confirmed as he held out the ring again. "So how about it, Rory?"

She sucked in a deep breath and waited for what seemed like forever as he waited to ask her.

"Will you marry me?"