AN: Having trouble with my current fic, I used the time to write this little OS I had in mind for some time now. Just some post season 7 stuff a thought about since re-watching '10 things I hate about you'

I don't own Gilmore Girls, I would prefer to own Matt Czuchry anyway ;)

Thanks to my wonderful beta!

He couldn't believe it, he had the proof in his hand but still it seemed
so surreal. He had recognized her handwriting immediately. He didn't
need a return address to know that the letter he'd just received was from
Rory—his Ace. The girl who had showed him what love was and who had also broken his heart…

He considered throwing the letter right into the fireplace without
reading it. He was sure he could act like he never got it in the first
place.

He would continue to move on like he had been for the past three months. He could, but a part of him was telling him that he didn't want to. Whatever it was,
something was telling him that he should read what she had to say.
Whatever it was—whether she wanted him to know that she finally got
over him or that she still loved him.

He didn't know which one he preferred…maybe even the first one. Both
would bring him new pain, old memories, everything that he never wanted
to think about again but there was no way he could not read it.
This letter was the last thing that he had of Rory. He sat down on his couch, and took a breath before he opened the envelope.

Logan,

I hate the way you talk to people
and the way you style your hair.
I hate the way you act when you feel bad.
I hate it when you smirk.
I hate your stupid, shiny Porsche
and the way you can read my mind.
I hate you so much it makes me sick.
It even makes me rhyme.
I hate it that you're always right.
I hate it when you lie.
I hate that you can always make me smile.
I hate it even more when you make me cry.
I hate… I hate it that you walked away.
I hate that you left, with just a goodbye.
But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you.
Not even close.
Not even a little bit.
Not even at all.

--Your Ace

'Wow,' was all that came to mind after he had re-read the letter.
A little smile formed on his lips and his eyes seemed almost teary. He
couldn't believe what she had written. He hadn't known what to expect
from it, but this took him completely by surprise. 10 things I hate about you. He
could remember that night like it had been yesterday. The first night
Rory had stayed over in his new apartment after he had moved to New York.
The night he knew that he would propose to her…

---

Amazed, Logan starred at his girlfriend. He had never seen someone so mesmerized by a movie he didn't find very special. But for Rory, every movie was special in its own way, and if you didn't agree with her, she could argue with you gave up and
saw that it was a lost cause. The movie that they watched had just ended and Logan wanted to ask her if she wanted to go to bed, but he heard her sigh and so
he smiled.

"What?' he asked, still smiling.

"Wasn't that movie great?" She turned, causing her eyes to leave the TV for the first time since the movie started.Here we go…

"It was okay," he answered and regretted it immediately.

"Okay?" She rolled her eyes. "It's a classic."

"They're all classics to you."

"Men!" she huffed in annoyance, rolling her eyes once more.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, now smirking.

"That scene where she read her poem is definitely one of the saddest
things I've ever seen. You can see it in her eyes; you can hear it from
her words how much she loves this guy." After Rory realized that Logan didn't want to say anything, she continued. "See, she knows that he has made mistakes in the past and that there is a good chance he will make them in the future, but she doesn't
care. He's far from perfect and might never change, but she
accepts that, she likes him for the person he is with his past, his
flaws… everything. There are characteristics of his that she really
dislikes, maybe even hates, but that's not important to her, not when
you think about it. In the end, there's only one thing that matters—that she
loves him, with all her heart. She wants him to be like himself, and because of that, everything is going to work out."

Rory bit her lip for a moment, while she looked her boyfriend in the
eyes, who still wasn't saying anything. Without realizing it, the light mood
had changed in a pretty serious one. Hesitating, Rory took Logan's hand
in hers and squeezed it a little bit.

"Do you know, why I really like this movie?" she asked him.

"Why?" Logan asked without breaking their eye contact.

She smiled. "It reminds me of you, us…I mean that storyline is totally
crazy and I'm definitely nothing like Kat. At least I hope not. The point is that the scene in class, when she reads this poem, it's like in some ways it was written
for us."

Again she hesitated and bit her lip, but the look in Logan's eyes, the
admiration she could read in them encouraged her to go on. "We've both made mistakes—we are far from perfect. We have a past that we're definitely not proud of, but we work pretty well together… I fell in love with you for the guy you are. Mr. Richie Rich, the Huntzberger heir…" She laughed. "The butt-faced miscreant you are. And,
yeah, there were times we fought cause we are who we are, and I'm sure
there will be lots of fights in the future and that's because we're just too stubborn
for our own good, but I'm okay with it.

Maybe we're going to hurt each other again, no one knows what will
happen in the future, maybe you'll break my heart, or I'll break yours.
I can't promise what will happen in a year or in ten, but what I can promise
you is that I love you, Logan right now. And I can't see it going away
soon. I want this to work… You and I aren't something casual, we're not
something that can fall apart easily—we're something real."

Rory had avoided looking into his eyes until she said the last sentences. Looking up at him now, she became a bit worried that she had said too much, that

maybe she even had scared him. Well she hadn't said that she wanted to
marry him or anything like that, but she'd definitely told him that
she wanted to have a future with him.

"Wow," he just said, smiling. The same response he had given her when she
he had told him that she was in love with him for the first time. But
this time was different. He reason he couldn't say anything now wasn't because he wasn't sure about his feelings, but because he was. He knew exactly how he felt,
and that what Rory said almost astounded him. "I love you so much Rory." he said, his voice almost breaking before he kissed her passionately.

Resting her forehead against his many seconds later, she couldn't stop smiling. It felt so good to be with, she had no idea how that could ever change, how she could somehow be without him some day. "But don't ever think you can buy me a guitar or a bass the next time you do something stupid," she joked. "First, you have proved in the past
that you have better ways to apologize and more importantly, I'm not
sure I have the talent to be the next member of Hep Alien. Lane is
my best friend and all, but you shouldn't make her suffer."

"I'll think of something special, then." He laughed out loud, took his
girlfriend in his arms, and kissed her head.

"Promise?"

"You've got yourself a deal, Ace!"

---

'…You and I aren't something casual, we're not
something that can fall apart easily—we're something real…'

He still remembered how he felt when she had said that to him. Before he had met
Rory, he would have been terrified if someone had said that to him. Hell,
he might have even ran out of their room before the end of their sentence, but with her, it was different, everything was different. He had felt happy that she felt that way. He might not have been able to articulate how he felt about her ramble, but he definitely showed her that night many times how much he agreed with her words. That night in New York, he had been sure that Rory would be the woman he wanted to grow old with—who he wanted to be his wife and maybe even later the mother of his children. He hadn't been able to think about something that could tear them apart.

The realization that just a few months after that night they did break
up still hurt him so much that he couldn't even think about the day she
turned him down. But reading this letter now, remembering this one
night, thinking about the meaning of the words she had used in the
letter, it broke nearly his heart that it was him who had walked away,
who had tore them apart. She hadn't been the one who wanted them to seperate, she had kept her promise. After all this time, she still loved
him.

Maybe it was time for him to keep his promise, then….