Gilmore Girls: Life After Graduation

Chapter 8

They were side by side on the bed, neither saying a word. Logan reached for Rory's hand and squeezed it. He rolled to his side to face her.  She followed his lead and rolled to face him.  When she shivered, he pulled the comforter up over them both. He brushed the hair away from her face and kissed her lightly. "Did you mean it?" he finally asked.

She knew what he meant. As she looked at him and touched his face, she whispered, "Yes. Did you?"

He rolled to his back pulling her against him so that her head was on his chest.  He held her close and said, "With all my heart."

"I don't want to ruin the moment or anything, but what now?" she asked as she drew lazy circles on his chest with her fingertips.

"Well my plans and impulsive ideas don't tend to work out too well for us.  But I don't want to lose you again.  I want to be with you, Ace.  What do you think?" Logan answered.

"Logan, I don't think I could stand losing you again," Rory said.  "Could we maybe keep things quiet until after these debates?  I have my work.  You have yours.  I would like to finish out this project with Hugo.  I worry if he knew about us he would expect me to get favors from you for his online magazine."

"Oh, I am more than willing to offer you my favors whenever you like, Ace," he joked.

"Logan!  You know what I mean!" she laughed.

Logan stopped laughing and said, "I understand completely.  But does that mean we are going to do it? We are going to try again?"

Rory lifted her head to look at him and said, "You jump, I jump, Jack."

Logan left Rory's room before the sun came up and went back to his hotel.  They agreed to keep their relationship quiet and sneak meetings as they could while still on the campaign trail.  Both were looking forward to the election so they could publicly be together again.

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A few hours later, Rory and Peggy gathered with the rest of the crew in a meeting held in the hotel's conference room before the debate that evening.  Rory's notes were spread over a table to brief everyone to the current status of the economy and standings of the major financial institutions. The financial crisis of the country appeared to have peaked, but all political leaders were scrambling to come up with plans to set the country right again.

Hugo burst into the and demanded someone turn on the television.  Senator John McCain, the Republican candidate, was on the screen being interviewed by HPC's lead reporter about his request to postpone the debate set for that evening in order to meet with his party to discuss plans for the economy.  The idea was rejected by Barack Obama.  But McCain was getting plenty of air time to voice his reasoning and stance. 

"Look at this!  We are here supporting and following Barack Obama.  We didn't even have a chance to offer the public his side!  This is an ambush.  We could have been running an interview with him right now to offset McCain's account!" Hugo ranted.

James, a reporter, asked, " How could we have known?  I mean, yeah, that would have been great, but we had no way of knowing HPC would schedule an interview with McCain today just hours before the debate."

"I don't know, Rory.  Do you think we could have had any idea what HPC could have been up to, Rory?" Hugo asked glaring at her.  Then he stormed out of the room.

All eyes were on Rory, looking for an answer as to what just happened.  Rory looked stunned and said, "excuse me," as she hurried out of the room. 

She ducked into the bathroom with Peggy on her heels.  "Oh shit.  I guess he saw you with Logan last night."

"Yeah, guess so.  Logan didn't tell me anything about this interview,"   Rory said.

"You were alone for like five minutes tops.  How would he have had time to tell you any plans? Hugo is over reacting," Peggy assured her. But as she looked at Rory's blush, she questioned, "What are you not telling me?"

"Well, we were alone a little more than five minutes.  Logan came into my room last night," Rory confessed.

"What?  What do you mean?  Did you guys... Oh, you did!  How was is?  What does this mean?  Are you back together?" Peggy questioned.

"Stop, stop, we can't do this now!  I have to find Hugo and explain all this," Rory said as she fixed her makeup.  "We'll talk later.  I promise."

Rory left the bathroom and went in search of Hugo.  She found him outside by the bus.  He was talking on his cell phone, so she waited patiently to the side for him to finish.

"Hugo, I think we need to talk," Rory said.

"Rory, look, I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have attacked you like that in the conference room.  I saw you and Huntzberger talking in the pub yesterday.  I've known for a while you two have history.  Then I saw the interview today and just freaked.  This election is huge for my online paper.  I need things to go well for us.  It's a tough time for everyone.  The news business as a whole is suffering.  It's especially hard right now for the little guys like us. I'll tell you a secret, Rory.  We are in danger of going under.  I don't want that to happen to my life's work,"  Hugo said as he raked his hand through his hair.

"I understand, Hugo.  But, I really didn't know anything about this interview.  Logan wouldn't tell me, a competitor, his plans!" Rory said.

"Yes, I know.  Look, let's forget it.  I'll say something to the troops.  They are used to me spazzing  at high stress times. We just need a break, something to put our name really on the grid.  But, in the future, it may not be wise to be seen fraternizing with the enemy," Hugo advised as he walked away.

Rory leaned against the bus and caught her breath for a minute.  Peggy came out and made sure Rory was alright and everything was alright between her and Hugo.  Then she smile and said in her very best Ricky Ricardo voice, "Lucy, you have a lot of 'splaining to do!"