11:55pm

December 31, 2016

Stars Hollow, Connecticut

Rory Gilmore stood near the centre of town, not far from the gazebo and surveyed her surroundings. A fresh blanket of snow had fallen overnight, leaving Stars Hollow looking as pretty as a postcard. White string lights surrounded the town square enveloping the New Year's Eve festivities, basking the party-goers in an almost ethereal glow.

She had arrived home from Nantucket the night before, spending the holidays with her mother and Luke at her grandmother's new home. She truly could not believe the changes she had seen in her grandmother these past few months. Her grandmother seemed to be at peace with the world, happy for the first time since the death of her husband.

It had been a wonderful week in Nantucket, for the first time in recent memory it had been a week of peace, not one fight between her mother and grandmother. Everyone seemed to be cherishing the time that they had, after all, you never know when life will change, it always seems to happen when you least expect it.

With the week in Nantucket, came a moment Rory had been dreading but it was time to put on her big girl pants, she had gotten herself into this mess and she had to live with the consequences. It had taken two full days for her to summon up the courage, but in the end, she told her grandmother everything.

Rory walked into her grandmother's living room finding her sitting on the sofa reading her new book on the history of whaling. It brought a smile to Rory's face, she loved that her grandmother had become a docent at the local whaling museum.

"Grandma, do you have a few minutes to chat?" Rory asked, biting her lip.

Emily closed her book. "For you, anything. She smiled.

"Could we maybe go for a walk?" Rory asked

"Alright Rory, let me grab my coat." Emily said, standing.

A few minutes later Rory found herself exiting Emily's new home and headed toward the beach, neither woman saying anything. Upon their arrival on the sand, Rory stopped and turned to face Emily. The cool wind whipped her hair around her face, she took a breath and began.

"Grandma…" Rory began.

"You're pregnant. Aren't you?" Emily asked.

"How… How did you know?" Rory looked puzzled.

"I just had this feeling, and then again, I caught you sneaking an apple from the fruit bowl yesterday. I thought you would tell me when you were ready, and I was right." Emily told her.

"Those stupid fruit cravings!" Rory muttered.

"It was the same with me, the same with your mother, it makes sense that it continued with you." Emily replied.

Rory nodded.

"You don't look happy though Rory. Frankly you look like someone stole your puppy. Shouldn't this be a happy occasion?" Emily asked.

"You… aren't mad? You were so upset with mom when she was going to be an unmarried mother." Rory replied.

"Rory, dear, there is a sixteen year age difference between when your mother was pregnant with you, and the age you are now. She was sixteen. You are a thirty two year old woman in a long term relationship, this is wonderful news." Emily smiled at her.

"You say that now… you haven't heard the rest of my news." Rory told her looking nervous.

"Oh?" Emily asked.

"Well, you see… The baby's father, it's not Paul. I haven't seen Paul in almost a year." Rory said, pausing.

"I see. Well who is the father then?" Emily replied.

Rory took a deep breath before she continued, summoning every ounce of courage she had. "Logan Huntzberger."

Emily stared at Rory, neither woman speaking.

It was Rory who finally broke the silence.

"I never thought I would see him again after I turned down his proposal, but two years ago I was walking through downtown Hamburg and I literally bumped into him. Neither of us had been paying attention to where we were going and nearly knocked each other over. Needless to say, my heart almost stopped when I realized who it was." Taking a breath Rory paused.

"He insisted he take me to buy a new coffee, mine had been spilled when we bumped into each other. Before we knew it six hours had passed and we were still sitting in the coffee shop. Neither of us wanted our time together to end. In the end though, he walked me back to my hotel, we exchanged phone numbers, he kissed me on the cheek and walked away into the night." she told her grandmother.

"I spent a sleepless night tossing and turning. It had brought all of the pain and loneliness back to the surface, I had thought I was over him, I really did. After seeing him though, I knew it was not the case. I called him first thing in the morning. We both extended our trips and spent the rest of the week together but soon it was time to go back home and face reality. We thought that would be it, but we both kept finding excuses to call each other, I made excuses to get to London, he made excuses to get to Connecticut." Rory continued.

"I convinced him to think of our relationship like Vegas. You know, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. We were together when we were together, and apart when we were apart. I'm not proud of it, but we were in two different places, on two different continents. Eventually Logan told me that he was facing great pressure from his parents to marry, a French heiress whose family his father was trying to partner with to expand both their businesses. I smiled and congratulated him. Inside, I felt like glass was shattering." Rory told her, a single tear escaping.

"We continued on, speaking on the phone regularly and seeing each other when we could, we only had so much time left, because once he was married, I was out. There would be no more Vegas. Near the end of the summer, Odette moved to London permanently. I told Logan I was done." Rory said.

"A few weeks later Logan and some of our friends showed up in Stars Hollow, one last sweet goodbye. They whisked me off on an amazing adventure, and that was the night that I ended up in the situation I am in now." Rory said, her eyes streaming with tears

"I asked him that night…" she choked out the words. "If he was really going to marry Odette. He told me that was the dynastic plan, and then, I knew that I had to let him go." she let the tears flow freely at this point.

Without saying anything Emily stepped forward and wrapped Rory into a hug, rubbing her back and soothing her until the tears subsided.

Outstretching her arms, Emily stepped back and looked at her granddaughter. "You still love him. Don't you?"

Tearfully Rory nodded.

"Have you told him?" Emily asked.

"Not yet." Rory told her grandmother.

"Are you going to?" Emily asked.

"I don't know. I don't want to upend his life." Rory told her.

"You need to tell him. He would want to know Rory." Emily replied.

"I know… but I just don't know how…" Rory trailed off.

"Come on, let's go get you a warm drink and we can make a plan." Emily told her and she wrapped her arm around Rory and started back up toward the house.

Rory shook herself out of her daze and smiled, as she realized that it had started to snow. She was afraid of what was to come, but at least she had a plan. In two days time she was flying to London and would tell him, he deserved to hear this kind of news in person. In the meantime though, she still had a long way to go to prepare herself for telling the man she loved she had thrown a wrench into his family's dynastic plan.

Looking back to the town square she saw her mother and Luke talking with Gypsy. Ms. Patty was flirting with one of the thirty-something gang, Lane was chasing her two boys around, they should have been in bed hours ago, Taylor was barking orders and Babette was having what Rory was sure was her sixth glass of founders day punch. Rory shuddered at the thought. It was nearly midnight, but Rory didn't feel much like celebrating, instead she decided to go home. Turning, she began to walk away from the revelry, she only made it a few steps before…

Smack. She was startled by a snowball, hitting her square in the back. "Kirk I swear to god, I already told you I'm not participating in a snowball…" Turning, Rory trailed off when she realized that it wasn't Kirk who threw the snowball.

Standing in front of her was Logan.

Rory stood there in shock for a moment, unsure if this was really happening.

It was like time stood still. Far off in the distance Rory could barely hear the countdown beginning.

10… 9… 8…

"I didn't marry Odette." Logan told her as he took a step closer.

7… 6… 5…

Rory took a breath

4.. 3… 2…

"I'm pregnant." Rory told him.

Echoes of "Happy New Year!" erupted in the distance as fireworks shot off.

Neither Rory or Logan noticed either of these things as they stared at each other, neither speaking.

Echoes of Auld Lang Syne reverberated in the distance.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

and auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup o' kindness yet,

for auld lang syne...

Logan broke the silence. "New Hampshire?"

Rory nodded getting teary.

"Were you ever going to tell me?" Logan asked.

Rory nodded, "My flight to London leaves in two days."

Taking one step closer, Logan was standing right in front of her. Reaching up, he gently cupped her face in his hand and kissed her. Wrapping her arms around him they deepend the kiss. There was a lot to discuss, a lot of decisions to be made, but this year was already off to a much better start than the last.

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup o' kindness yet,

for auld lang syne...