Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls

A/N: I have this story mapped out, it is A/U basically from the point of graduation on, and takes place beginning in 2019. For the next chapter I will include a rundown of names and ages in the next chapter for context. It is, as always R/L. Please please PLEASE read, review, follow.

Chapter One:

"Eli," Rory Gilmore looked at the 11 year old standing in front of her, "I will be back in a couple of days, this will be fine. You are just going to spend the weekend with Dad."

"I don't want to." a whiney tone escaped the blonde haired boy, Rory gave him a warning look before he spoke again, "Sorry. Dad will want to play hockey and football, I don't want to do that."

"I will talk to Dad before you go." Rory assured him, pulling him in for a quick. Eli always had been sensitive, he was 11 years old and much more like Rory than he was his father, something that the latter had always been acutely aware of. "I promise you, you will have fun."

"Luca better not try to sleep in my room." Eli added.

"I will talk to Luca before we go." Rory laughed, thinking of her kids, how they had surprised her every single day. "You know what is happening today, right?"

Eli nodded, "The announcement goes out? So we don't have to lie about it anymore?"

"Eli, you never had to lie." Rory corrected him. "We just asked that you not run around telling everyone you meet that your Dad and I were separated. Dad and I just needed to hammer out the details, and now that is done, so we are going to announce it, and for a few days it will be a big deal. That is why you are going to spend the weekend with Dad, and stay at home, not turn on the TV, swim in the pool, just have fun."

"Where are you going? It's your anniversary weekend." Eli pointed out.

Rory smiled, ever the perceptive little boy, "I'm going to San Francisco by myself for a couple of days. I had this planned a long time ago, so I'm just going to unwind while you kids stay with your Dad."

"Can I come?"

"You want to come with me?" Rory smiled at him.

"What are you doing there?"

"I have a private tour of Alcatraz booked," Rory laughed, "you know how Dad likes that stuff, then a couple of dinners, and probably sit by the pool. You can come, just ask your Dad, ok?"

Eli hugged her tightly, Rory was relieved, navigating a divorce was hard enough, but she spent every second of the last few months worrying about how her boys would take this. Luca was 6 and didn't fully understand what was going on, the extent of his worry was whether or not he had a pool at both of their houses. The youngest boys, James and Christopher were almost 4 and thankfully were oblivious to what was going on. They loved their Dad, but they weren't exactly used to him being around all of the time, they would enjoy a weekend with their father but be just as excited when Rory returned on Sunday night.

"Can I use your phone?" Eli extended his hand to her, Rory happily gave it to him and watched as he walked out of the kitchen to call his father privately.

Rory ran her hands through her hair. How had this become her life? What was this mess she was in. The truth was, she had been looking forward to a weekend away, but she also knew that Eli was struggling with it, and she refused to abandon him if he wanted to come, she just had to hope that her soon to be ex-husband would be ok with it. She looked out at her backyard, the patio doors were all pulled open. She recalled when they had bought the house, only a year earlier, it had checked every box on her list. Enough bedrooms, enough outdoor space for the kids to run and play, family to visit if they were coming to California. He had never loved the house but he had agreed to it, for her. She realized now he was plotting his exit and before they even moved in they had agreed to a separation agreement, he would live in the pool house, and she and the kids would be in the main house. He wasn't home much through the winter anyway, so it wasn't some huge loss to her. In March, he had quietly moved into another home and they had begun shuttling the kids between them when he was in town. July was now upon them, school was out and the kids were enjoying themselves. They had agreed to publicly announce the end of their 10 year marriage. Just shy of 10 years in fact, Rory knew why he had chosen the timing, it changed their prenup, if they were married over 10 years, the prenup was invalid, under 10 years and it was ironclad. The irony wasn't lost on Rory, she certainly wasn't married for the money, she had spent a few years working for her Grandfather, and when Emily had passed away a couple of years after him, she had split their fortune with her Mother.

"He said yes!" Eli came running back into the room and interrupted her thoughts, "He just wants to talk to me before we leave when you drop the little boys off."

Rory smiled, she was glad he was excited, his blonde mop bouncing as he came to her, "Well go pack your bag. Make sure you have a swim suit and your toothbrush." she told him, "The little boys will be done with their show soon. Put your bag by the door to the garage when you're ready."

xxx

Rory looked in her rearview mirror as she drove the short drive to her soon to be ex-husbands house. "Come on guys, lets go." she told her sons as she stepped out of the car, pulling her sunglasses over her eyes. He was standing in the doorway and before Rory could get a world in, Luca had run to his father and jumped into his arms. Rory was happy, her brown eyed boy loved his Daddy and was basically the miniature version of him in terms of his personality. Luca jumped first, looked second. James and Richard were a better combination of their two parents, the identical twin boys had dirty blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, Rory unbuckled them both and gave them each a kiss before putting them on the driveway and sending them to their Dad. "Eli, can you help me please?" she asked the older boy as he stood back with her, watching his brothers embrace their father.

"Sure." he nodded as he took two of the small bags for her, "Hi Dad."

"Eli, buddy." the older man smiled as his oldest son walked towards him. "You sure you don't wanna stay with the boys and I?" Eli shook his head in response, "Next time then, alright?"

"Sure." Eli agreed, "I'm going to say goodbye to the boys." he shrugged and followed his younger brothers into the house leaving Rory standing in the driveway.

"You'll drop them off before dinner on Sunday?" she crossed her arms in front of her.

"Of course." he nodded, "You read over everything for today?"

"I did." she told him, "Looks to be what we agreed to. Can you…can you just make sure that James and Chris get to bed on time tomorrow? It is a nightmare on Sunday if they stay up too late Saturday."

"I know. I will. They'll want to FaceTime tonight, do you want to say goodbye again?"

"Just send Eli to the car, ok?" Rory shook her head, she couldn't do this, she couldn't be around him, pretending that ending their marriage was just a simple decision.

xxx

"Come on, let's go get an ice cream."

"Did that person just look at you?" Eli was acutely aware of having overheard his father saying how the announcement was going out, he spoke about it differently than Rory did. Rory was calming and reassuring, "Do they know?"

"No one is looking at us sweetheart," Rory squeezed his shoulder, "come on, lets just go get the ice cream." she told him as they walked into the Ghiradelli Ice Cream shop at Pier 39. They had arrived in San Francisco and quietly checked into their suite at the Hyatt, Rory would let Eli sleep in the bed and she would sleep on the sofa bed in their Luxury Suite. She had started putting the plans in motion before they had separated, and simply left the plans. Initially her hope was that they might reconcile and their plans could be salvaged, but as that became increasingly unlikely, Rory just wanted the time to unwind, but she was happy Eli was with her. She was happy to be a safe space for him.

"Can we get the cookie one?" he pointed to the menu.

"Whatever you want." Rory nodded, she thought to herself that his Dad was still paying the credit card bill for the foreseeable future, so he could order whatever the hell he wanted. "Visa," she smiled to the cashier and paid for their treat, "can we eat it outside, buddy?"

"Sure," Eli agreed as they walked together, "are you going to miss him?"

"Who? Dad?" Rory asked as they walked towards the water and thankfully managed to find a spot on the pier. Eli nodded his head in response as they sat down and looked at the water. "Eli, Dad and I love each other, and we love you and your brothers. I will miss us being together, but we are family, we will still be family no matter what. I know things are weird right now, and Luca, James, Chrisy, they don't understand the same way that you do. But you don't have to worry."

"But Dad can say I can't see you."

"He can," Rory agreed, "but he won't. Dad and I talked about that from the get go, and your Mom agrees…it is really important to all of us that you and I get our time together." she explained. Eli was not her son biologically, but Rory had been a part of his life since he was an infant.

"Promise?" Eli looked at her hopefully, "Mom is never here anyway."

"Your Mom loves you, but her work is in Italy." Rory told him as they looked out at the water, "So, do you want room service for dinner, or do you want to go for a fancy dinner?"

"Room service."

"Me too," Rory laughed, thankful for a moment to relax and just watch the people around her, "I'm glad you came."

"Me too. Can we go on one of those cheesy bus tours?"

"The hop on hop off bus?" Rory laughed as she took a bite of the ice cream sundae. Eli nodded his head excitedly, "I thought maybe we could do the aquarium, and then dinner, then we have our Alcatraz tour? Tomorrow we can just be lazy, hit the pool, if you want to come back here we can do that, and then have a movie night in the hotel. Sunday morning we need to leave after breakfast for the drive home."

"What do you think the boys are doing?" Eli asked.

"Dad is probably tossing them around the pool." Rory laughed, "They will have fun. I know this is hard, and confusing for you. But remember that we love you, and it is going to take some time to figure it out, and I think it being so…public now makes it harder, but just focus on us, buddy. We've got you. Dad and I, your Mom, we are all on your side."

"Rory Gilmore?" the male voice interrupted the pair on the bench.

Rory's eyes immediately shot up, worried about what was about to happen, but she smiled at the familiar face standing in front of her. "Logan Huntzberger, what are you doing here?" she stood up and hugged her old friend, her college love. "Eli, this is my friend Logan." Rory nodded to the blonde haired boy.

"Eli?" Logan looked at her with a smile, "Nice to meet you buddy, how old are you?"

"I'm turning 12 soon. My birthday is in December." the blonde boy told him.

Rory could see the wheels spinning in his head, it wasn't the craziest thing, Eli did have a resemblance to Logan, "Eli is my stepson." she explained, "But I remember the day he was born." she admitted with a smile.

"What are you doing in San Francisco? Don't you live in New York?" Logan thought back to the last time he had heard anything about Rory, it was about 5 years earlier.

"We did." Rory nodded, "But my husband was traded from New York to LA about a year and a half ago, so we are in Encino now. Eli and I just came here for the weekend. How about you? Still in Palo Alto?"

"I am." Logan dug his hands in his pocket, "Honor and her kids are here for the weekend, they wanted to see the Pier, so I am on Uncle duty." He had forgotten that Rory had married an NHL star, it never really struck him that she would be into that kind of life, but he supposed people probably would have thought the same about the two of them together when they were younger. He recalled hearing that Rory had just started dating the guy when he found out his ex was pregnant, and then a few years later heard that Rory was married. He had honestly made a point to ignore as much information as he could about her, he wanted her to be happy, but he certainly didn't need to know the details.

"Did you lose them?" Eli interrupted the conversation.

"No," Logan laughed, "they are with their Mom and are going to meet me in," he looked at the Apple Watch on his wrist, "15 minutes. Mind if I stay?"

"Sure." Eli shrugged, "We are going to go to the aquarium. Have you been?"

"Not in a long time," Logan admitted, "I don't get out here as much as I should."

"Where are you working?" Rory asked him, he looked good, she would be a liar to say he didn't. His hair seemed darker, he was leaner, more muscular than when she had known him. She immediately noticed that he wasn't wearing a wedding ring, but she also knew that wasn't an indication of anything given that she was still wearing her diamond wedding band.

"I have my own company." Logan told her, "LHM, Logan Huntzberger Media Inc." he explained, "Creative, I know."

"So you never ended up back with your Dad?"

Logan shook his head, "I mean, we have some joint ventures, but this baby is all my own." he told her proudly, "How about you? I know you were working for your Grandfather before…"

Rory nodded her head at the memory, "I was, insurance was…dry you could say. But I'm just…a Mom now. I mean, I am verified on Instagram, so I guess that counts for something?" she laughed.

"Please do not post this on Instagram!" Eli interrupted them.

"You know this is a social media free weekend." Rory assured him. "Logan it has been great catching up, um…we have to go, we should go and you have to meet Honor."

"How long are you in town for?" Logan asked.

"Sunday." Eli piped in.

"Can we grab dinner tomorrow? I would love to catch up. It's been a long time." Logan told her, "If your husband doesn't mind, of course. Perry? Right?"

"He won't mind." Eli told Logan.

"Eli!" Rory spun her head to the boy, "No, Perry won't mind." she didn't want to talk about her divorce, not on a Pier with Eli around. "Here," she pulled out her phone, "give me your number and I will text you. Do you mind…Eli and I are staying at the Hyatt, could you meet us there? We have a suite. I just…there are ears…everywhere." she looked around them.

Logan wasn't sure who the woman standing in front of him was anymore, when he had known her she wouldn't have had to worry about who knew what about her life, but the woman talking to him now seemed incredibly on edge. "Sure," Logan took the phone and typed in his own number, hitting send on her message, "I'll text you later. It was nice to meet you Eli, good to see you, Ace."