"Hey Mom, can I ask you a question?" Rory asked having finally tracked her mother down at the party.
"What's up?" Lorelai asked. "Are you having a good time?"
"Yeah, of course I am! Thank you so much for this! But question; did you by any chance invite Paris and Doyle? Because they seem to be missing."
"Um, let's see . . . Did I invite my daughter's best friend to her birthday party . . . Uh, yeah, I believe that I did. I talked to them yesterday. They should be here. Why do you ask?"
"Well because Logan and I were just talking to Collin and giving him an update on things. And he happened to point out that we have less than 48 hours before certain court records become public."
"What court records?"
"The ones in St. Croix. And that if there is anyone else that we don't want finding out from the circus, we might want to tell now."
"Hold on a second, let Mommy catch up . . . The circus is getting court records from St. Croix?"
"Mom, really?!" Rory said impatiently. "The wedding." she finally whispered in Lorelai's ear.
"Oh!!! I'm sorry Honey, there is so much going on right now that I'm having a little trouble keeping up here."
"We need to tell Paris and Doyle, and they aren't here."
"Have you tried calling them?"
"Not yet. I wanted to ask you if they were invited before I call, just in case they don't know about the party."
"Oh, they know about the party for sure. I talked to Paris about it yesterday, and got a nice lecture about last minute invites."
"Well I didn't know, so I needed to check. So now the question is where is a nice quiet place that I can make a phone call?"
"Come with me." Lorelai said waving for Rory to follow her. "Hey Luke?"
"Yeah?"
"Honey, can Rory borrow your diner keys?"
"What's going on?"
"She needs a quiet place to make a phone call."
"Sure, of course. Here you go Rory. Just make sure to lock up when you're done." Luke said, pulling the keys out of his pocket, and handing them to his daughter.
"Thanks Luke! I'm gonna go grab Logan."
"What's going on?" Luke asked once Rory was gone.
"Paris and Doyle aren't here, and Rory needs to tell them about St. Croix before word gets out."
"Gotcha. That is probably a good idea. Didn't you invite them tonight? Why aren't they here?"
"Of course I invited them! I have no idea why they aren't here. This is so unlike Paris!"
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"Hey Paris, it's Rory, where are you?" Rory asked when Paris finally picked up the phone.
"I'm driving Rory, why, where are you?"
"I'm at my birthday party, and you aren't here. I know it was a last minute thing, but my mom said that she invited you guys, so where are you? Are you coming?"
"Yeah, we're coming. Traffic has been horrendous, but we are almost there."
"Oh good! I'm so glad! I can't really have a birthday without my best friend. Can you meet me at Luke's when you get here? There is something that I need to talk to you about. You and Doyle."
"You're pregnant, aren't you?!"
"No Paris, I'm not. Or at least not that I know of."
"Well then we should probably talk about that too."
"Oh not you too. I have more than enough going on right now, don't you think?!"
"Well you aren't getting any younger!"
"Thanks for the reminder Paris! How much longer do you think it'll be before you get here?"
"Maybe another 20-30 minutes."
"Ok, I'll meet you at Luke's."
"Sounds good. Bye Rory." Paris said, then disconnected the call.
"So what's the game plan?" Logan asked as Rory put her phone back in her pocket.
"What do you mean?"
"After we tell Doyle and Paris. What is the plan? Are we goingto tell anyone else, or just let everyone find out from the circus?"
"I don't really know. What do you think?"
"Well, this is Stars Hollow. It's your hometown. If you want to tell everyone, then this is a pretty good place to start."
"That's true. And it's not like anyone here gets out, so the news really won't travel very far outside town. And an added bonus is that no one has any idea who you even are. To everyone here, you are just the hot guy following me around the party."
"Can I just say that I really love the small town life? Being a nobody definitely has its advantages!"
"It really does in this situation."
"So here is something else that we need to think about . . .That 'this is me' article that you are supposed to write for release on Monday. The one we've kind of completely forgotten about . . ."
"Crap!"
"Maybe we should just announce our marriage there. That way all of the correct information gets out, and we don't have to deal with the massive media rumors nightmare."
"That is probably a good idea. Just putting it out there like it's no big deal will keep a lot of attention off of us."
"And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we probably only have about 18 hours left before we need to get the article submitted to the HPG servers for publication. Especially if we want it picked up on the AP wire."
"How long do we have if we want a Monday publish for HPG and Tuesday for everyone else?"
"I like it! HPG gets the exclusive and everyone else gets to wait a day. You're a genius!"
"So how long do we have before the article needs to be submitted?"
"I believe everything goes to print at 9pm, so I would say maybe 7ish at the absolute latest. However, we do need to make a few phone calls, and send out a notice for space to be saved for an HPG exclusive."
"Are you sure that you want to be a doctor, and don't just want to run HPG yourself? Because you are so good at it!"
"No way! I can't stand that place! HPG is all yours!"
"Logan, come on. I know that you hated being raised the way you were, and having HPG shoved down your throat your entire life. I get it. I really do. And I know how hard you've worked to make a life for yourself, away from your family. And I would never ask you to ever go back. I know how much you love your job. But babe, what if your crazy family had nothing to do with it? What if HPG hadn't been crammed down your throat since the day you were born? You are so good at running the show, meeting deadlines, directing meetings and supervising the staff. Do you think that maybe running the company might be something that you would actually like to do?"
"I honestly don't know . . ." Logan said with a sigh, sitting down on one of Luke's bar stools.
"You are an amazing doctor. But you are also such a great asset to the newspaper business. You may have put me in charge, but you've been running the show lately while I just sit back and watch. And I know that it's because I am brand new, and you are the one with all of the experience. But you are so good at it that it just makes me wonder, what if your dad hadn't crammed it all down your throat your entire life? What if you had actually been given an option like I was? Would you still be a doctor had you not been forced into the newspaper life? Or is there a chance that you might actually be happy running HPG? Because I'm pretty sure that you can have both if that's what you want."
"How would that even work? I can't have a medical career and run a major media company all at the same time."
"I don't really know, but we can figure it out. We can tag team it and run HPG together. You teach me what to do and I can run the day to day operations, and you can come in when you aren't busy and help run things behind the scenes. You can deal with the board meetings and maybe the bigger business trips. You can do the big acquisitions since you are the one with the shark experience, and I'll take care of the smaller stuff and learn by watching you."
"That sounds like me having two full-time jobs."
"Well, what if you cut back to part time at the hospital? Maybe do part time at both places? We can work something out like 3 days a week in each place and then one day free just us. You love being a doctor and I would never take that away from you. But maybe if you want to do both, we can figure out a way to work it out. I mean, realistically, you're going to be hanging around the HPG office in your spare time anyway, just to help me out. You might as well get paid for doing it."
"Ace . . ."
"Just think about it, ok? You know that I am not your father, and there is no way I will push you into anything. I'm just saying ,I've been watching you run things this last week, and you are so good at it. I guess I just wonder if your hatred of the business is really an actual hatred or more of an annoyance because it was forced on you. If it is something that you might actually enjoy, you just don't want your Dad to know that you enjoy it, then we can work it out so you can do both. You don't have to do it because it's what your family expects of you, and being a doctor pisses them off. You don't have to be that person. You want me to be happy, and to live my dream of being a foreign correspondent. But I want you to have your dream too. And if your dream is being a shark business man and running this company the way you want to, without your Dad dictating your life, then I want you to have that too. I want you to have everything."
"I know you do. I'll think about it, ok? You did make a really good point. And I love that you question me and push me to be more than I am. You are an amazing person Rory."
"You married me for a reason, right?" Rory asked as Logan pulled her into his arms.
"I did. I married you because you are beautiful and the smartest woman I've ever known. No one has ever called me out on anything the way that you do."
"Well get used to it, because I know you. I know when you are doing things because you want to, and when you are doing them just to spite other people. I know when you are happy and when you are faking it for an audience. I want you to have everything. But you shouldn't have to hide from something you love just because you don't want to give your family the satisfaction of thinking that they've broken you, or that you've finally succumbed to their sick plans. If you come back to HPG, I want it to be because it's what you want, and I want it to be on your terms. That company was always meant to be yours, and I wouldn't dream of taking it away from you."
"Will you please just shut up and kiss me now?" Logan asked, crashing his lips into his wife's.
"Hey guys, can we at least keep it a PG rating in here?" a voice asked a couple minutes later.
"I married her, I'll make it an R rating if I want to." Logan said still kissing his wife.
"Logan!" Rory scolded him, quickly pushing him away, and turning to face their guest.
"Doyle, did he just say what I think he said?!" Paris asked as she walked through the door with a child in her arms.
"I do believe he just said that he married her."
"Rory Gilmore, you got married without telling your bestfriend!?!"
"Well, that's one way to break the news." Rory laughed as Logan pulled her into a seated position on his lap.
"Logan, you've got some lipstick." Doyle said motioning to the side of his mouth. Rory quickly turned and wiped at Logan's mouth, then grabbed for a nearby napkin dispenser to check her own reflection. "So you two ran off and got married? I knew you wouldn't last!" Doyle laughed. "Where'd you go? Vegas?"
"St. Croix." Logan told him.
"Damn, I lost the bet!" Doyle said reaching into his pocket and handing something to Paris.
"Wait a minute, whatever bet you put on my head, I want half!" Rory told them.
"It was only $100. How about a birthday present instead?" Paris offered, setting Bradley down on the floor. "Bradley, why don't you go give Auntie Rory her birthday present."
"What was the bet?" Logan asked.
"We figured your engagement would be super short considering your history, so we took bets on where the wedding would happen. I said Vegas, but Paris said that if you two were going to run away to get married it would be somewhere more classy like a tropical island." Doyle told him.
"Damn she knows me!"
"I've clearly known you two way too long!" Paris said with a roll of her eyes. "Either that, or you are entirely predictable!"
"Thank you so much for the present Bradley! Can I have a birthday hug too?" Rory asked holding her arms out for the little boy who happily jumped into them. "Thank you so much! I love getting hugs from sweet little boys!"
"Catherine, go give Auntie Rory a birthday hug." Doyle said setting his daughter down on the floor, then watching as she ran to Rory.
"Thank you so much Catherine! I've missed you two!"
"You open present?" Catherine asked.
"Sure, I'll open my present. Did you help pick this out for me?" Rory asked as Catherine nodded her head.
"Doyle took them shopping, and this is what they decided on. I got you something too, but it's still in the car." Paris told her.
"I love it!" Rory said pulling a brown teddy bear out of the gift bag Bradley had handed her. "Thank you guys so much! He is so cute! What should I name him?"
"Misfer Bubbles!" Bradley said excitedly.
"Mister Bubbles? You think we should name him Mister Bubbles?"
"Yes!" Catherine agreed.
"Well then Mister Bubbles it is!" Rory told them. "Thankyou both so much! I think I will take Mister Bubbles to work with me, just so you will have to come visit me at the office so you can see him, ok?"
"Yay!!!" the kids cheered together.
"Doyle, Paris, thank you so much! This means a lot to me!" Rory told them. "I know it's just a bear, but I really do love it. Thank you!"
"Don't thank us, this was all the twins. I just took them to the store." Doyle told her.
"Yeah but it was so sweet of you to take them shopping for me. I would have been perfectly happy with just a birthday hug from my munchkins."
"Well you are the best aunt in the world. Thank you for always being there for them. It means a lot to us."
"It's my pleasure." Rory told him. "Hey you guys, how would you like to go see Nana Lorelai?"
"Yay!!!!! Nana!!!!!" the twins cheered.
"Come on, let's go!" Rory said standing up and grabbing both of their hands, and heading for the diner door.