The Newest Gilmore

Chapter 1: Salmon Puffs and Cocoa Puffs

5 years after AYITL.

Logan Huntzberger stared at the doorbell of the new Gilmore house. Would SHE be there? NO, he told himself, this was put on by her grandmother,  and it wouldn't matter even if she was because this was business, this was seeing friends of the family. It was just a party. Shop talk, cocktails, ties - it was in his blood. He'd probably been to hundreds of these things. But this one was different. This one could hurt, it could be so much worse the the others. All because of HER.  His eyes felt heavy, as if the antique lion-head knocker was boring its lead forehead into them. A pair of headlights flashed behind him, so with a little courage he took a large gulp of the fresh night air and knocked.

Almost immediately the door opened. 

Nobody could say that Emily Gilmore didn't know how to plan a party. This was a blowout, a blowout to blow all other blowouts out of the water. Waiters circled with salmon puffs, live music streamed from a corner, infusing the room with a warmth only quick vibrating strings could bring. He handed the maid his coat, straightened his tie, and cleared his throat. Let the shop-talk begin.  Some familiar hand patted him and passed, he nodded in the direction of the hand with a tad of recognition. He had met all the people before, in one way or another, but for the most part he didn't care to remember who they were, or what they did, or what possible reason such boring people could exist in the universe.  But none of these thoughts showed on his face. He smiled, and shook hands in circle around the rooms until he ended up by the dessert table - his end goal from the start of the circling. It was an ice-cream bar. He smiled as he scanned the table for the best toppings - hot fudge, crushed peanuts, and whipped cream(a classic for a reason) - Lorelei must have had a hand in this. Despite the time stretched between him and the Gilmore girls, they and their junk food habit were hard to forget. His smile froze a little when his eyes lit on a large bow in the middle of the table, a green one with cocoa puffs filling it to the point of spilling over. He knew exactly who that topping was for. His mind burned with a memory, a date and a cafeteria, but he pushed it away. There was never going to be a good time to think about things like that, but this was clearly one of the worst.  Something tugged at his right pant leg. 

"Could you please put some of the cereal on here? I can't reach" asked a young girl. She was a cute kid, who couldn't have been more than 5 or 6, with the kind of smile that makes it very hard to say no. She seemed familiar, and then he placed it, she looked a bit like his niece Holly.  "Sure" he smiled, then she did as well. The girl handed him a crystal bowl that had already been filled quite high with strawberry ice-cream. Grabbing a spoon he topped it with a few spoonfuls of the cereal.

"More, please"

He chuckled a little to himself, he liked this girl. He topped it with one more spoonful and tried to hand it back to her. She answered him with a look that clearly said: "Really? Thant's all you got?". He filled it to the brim of the bowl, then the girl smiled, took it, grabbed the whipped cream and gave the bowl a whipped cream dunce hat. 

"Thanks", she said with a sheepish sort of  grin. Logan watched her run away, and hide behind a tall potted plant in the corner of the stairs. Boy, Emily Gilmore certainly had changed if she was allowing dirt in the house. He filled his bowl crushed ice-cream drumstick style - his favorite, and looked around the room for a place to sit without being brought into a business conversation. The bowl in his hand wouldn't exactly be the best accompaniment to shop talk. There was no where that didn't have someone work related, so he settled on the stairs. It was perfect, comfortable and a little out of the way, but not so much to make him seem anti-social. Besides, there definitely wouldn't be any judgement about his dessert there! He settled in, leaning into the banister a little, and dug into his ice-cream.

"Hello", said the voice behind him "Thanks again for your help". 

"No problem" he answered with a smile, "But if you don't mind me asking, what are you doing back here? The party is happening out there", he gestured.

"My mom wants me to go to bed, my bedtime is nine", she explained through a mouthful of whipped cream.

"Well that ice-cream will certainly keep you up a bit longer", he laughed.

The girl smiled at him. He was seated on a step far enough up that he could see her, and their conversation could continue.

She stuck out a sticky hand. "I'm Celia."

He shook it gingerly. "And I'm Logan. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Celia's eyes widened, and she giggled at his etiquette.

"Emily Post would be proud" she laughed.

"You know who Emily Post is?" asked Logan, surprised.

" My grandma reads her to me before bed sometimes." She licked some fudge off her spoon.

"Huh". It was all he could think to say.

A quiet silence filled the space between them, broken only by the clinking of ice-cream spoons.

Celia squirmed.

"I'm going to go to Yale", she said, an attempt to talk again - she liked talking with this man.

"Oh really?", Logan's eyebrows shot up. " I went there." 

" You did?!" Her eyes widened even more. " My mom did too. Maybe you knew her".

"Maybe" If she came from these  people he had probably had her in his room as well, and he had no interest in reliving those days.  "No Harvard? Just Yale?"

"Just Yale. Besides, I don't look half as good as Lora does in red", she confirmed.

"Lora?"

"Lora is my real grandma, but she didn't want to be called grandma so I call her Lora. She said she was too young. It's a nickname."

"Ah, so you call your great-grandma just grandma then?"

"Yup"

"Huh." They both dug into their ice-creams for another bite.

"Celia, how old are you?"

"4 and a half, why?"

4 and a half???!?!?!?!

"You just seem very smart for your age."

"Thank you! How old are you?"

He laughed:"I think you might need to brush up on your Emily Post if you are asking that, but I am 38"

"Wow. You're ol- "

Her not-so-subtle comment was interrupted by a fit of laughter. Giggling, she fell out from behind the vase. 

"Gotcha!"a hidden voice exclaimed. 

And then there she was. The brown haired blue eyed girl of his dreams. His ace. 

A real time-stops, world explodes feeling was happening inside him right now, and as much as he didn't want to show it, he had a pretty good feeling his face was giving it all away.

He cleared his throat, but his voice still hitched. "Hey Rory".

Celia's excited voice came from behind him: "So you DID know my mom.

Ah, that was it. Celia's face did look like Holly's but its familiarity was something more, something about her smile. 

It was a Gilmore smile.

Hi guys! Thank you so much for reading! I really love writing, and could use whatever constructive criticisms you all have to offer, so please feel free to leave your honest opinion in the comments. Everything helps!