Still Falling For You (Gilmore Girls)

It Hurts

When Monday morning rolled around Rory put her best foot forward and walked bright and breezily into her office at the New York Times with an air of confidence, her outward persona not being a true reflection of what was actually bubbling under the surface.

The newsroom had been completely abuzz with nervous energy since the Huntzberger takeover. People were on edge as they wondered just how much the new owners would change things or whether they'd be able to hold on to their jobs should there be any restructuring. Rory, however, was nervous for another reason altogether. She knew that she was going to have to face Logan at some point this week, and if she was really unlucky, Mitchum Huntzberger. That had always been a precarious relationship and one that she wasn't exactly relishing having to rekindle.

The first few days as part of Huntzberger Media had gone well by anyone's standards. The team were all quite taken with Logan and he had developed an easy rapport with everyone. Rory noticed that he worked very differently from his father, treating his staff as people rather than numbers on the payroll. She was glad that so far she'd managed to avoid any awkward situations with Logan and as yet, nobody in the office was even aware that they had a past together, which as far as she was concerned was the best way for it to be.

Logan had been far too busy to dwell on the situation too much. His father was due into the office early next week to see how things were shaping up and he wanted everything to be ready for his visit. Aside from being present in a few meetings together, his path really hadn't crossed with Rory's all that much but he knew her well enough to notice that in those meetings she was clearly uncomfortable and wouldn't make eye contact. It wasn't an ideal situation for them to be in. He doubted that anyone would enjoy having to suddenly start working with their ex but he held on the fact that they were both adults and he was confident that they could rise above it and maintain their professionalism – that is if he could only stop thinking about her.

When Mitchum had announced that he was going to buy the New York Times and told Logan that he would be heading it up for a while, he had felt a little excited about the prospect of seeing her again. He was fully aware that she worked there, having followed her work for some time. Logan had been surprised to see that Rory had decided to use her married name professionally as when they had been together she had always maintained that when she made it as a journalist she would be "Rory Gilmore" on her bylines forever. But things change and she was no longer Rory Gilmore, she was now Rory Attwood – wife of a major Broadway star. Logan really hadn't dealt with the news of her marriage very well. He knew it was nothing to do with him and their relationship was completely in the past but there were times when he wondered why she chose to marry James when she had turned him down. He could only presume that what she felt for James was stronger than the feelings she had ever had for him and that was something he didn't want to think about.

Logan knew that he and Rory couldn't avoid each other forever, they'd done well managing three days in the same office without talking to each other yet, so he decided just to get it out of the way and called his secretary to ask her to come see him.

Rory had just settled down at her desk to read through some draft articles that had been submitted for her to review when her desk phone rang.

"Rory Attwood"

"Oh, Ms Attwood, it's Celia from Mr Huntzbergers office. Mr Huntzberger has asked that you come by, he'd like to speak to you briefly."

Rory closed her eyes. "Shit," she thought to herself. There was no way of getting out of this. When you were called to the boss's office you had to go.

"Now?" she asked, as she hoped for a short reprieve.

"If you could," Celia said politely.

"Okay, I'll be there in five." Rory replaced the handset and tried to gather her thoughts as she got up and slowly made her way to Logan's office on the 7th floor. When she got to his office he was waiting for her.