AN: Please excuse any huge mistakes on the part of San Francisco. There's only one or two paragraphs that might piss off a native San Franciscan, and please let me know how to fix it if it does.

It had been nearly a year since he had last seen her, and more than two since he had last kissed her, held her, really talked to her. And here he was, getting an email from her. One she didn't even realize she was sending to him.

"Hi, String. Frequent reader here, though I rarely comment. Just wanted to let you know that your comment about Obama isn't quite accurate. He might not be the most liberal politician out there, but, having followed him on the campaign trail for several months, I can assure you, he is definitely to the left of Lieberman. But keep up the good work! You are definitely my favorite blog out there."

She hadn't signed her name, but she hadn't changed her personal email address. String. Here she was, thinking she was sending an email to some anonymous blogger, when she was actually making contact with her ex. Logan grinned to himself. He knew there had to be some real perks to being the hot new blogger other than the masses of naked pictures he received, begging him to reveal his identity.

"Thanks so much for the compliment. And thank you for your correction. Living in San Fran you tend to forget how politics work in the real world. Keep reading, String."

Send.

Logan rarely replied to his String emails, ever since he started getting more than 50 a day. But this was Rory – his Rory. Even after all this time, he couldn't help but think of her that way. He knew that sending the reply wouldn't do much in the long run. She still didn't know who he was. But it made him feel like he still had some sort of connection to her, even if he wasn't really sure he was ready for any Rory reconnection, at least not outside the safety of the computer.

He turned back to his real work – his passion. String might be big enough now to bring in a modest income through advertising, but Logan was happy running his own company - Pnutech. It was his baby. He had nurtured it from infancy out of his San Francisco apartment into the 1950's architecturally modern building down the street that housed his company headquarters. Suddenly, Logan was in the big time, fielding calls from Google to turn down their offers to buy him out. He was enjoying himself too much to consider selling the company. And his partners were making enough money that they weren't about to complain.

But as happy as Logan was in his professional life, he was equally unhappy in his personal life. He had very few friends outside the office. Colin and Finn were, of course, a phone call away, and always up for a weekend away for a change of pace. However, both were still on the East coast, Colin working for his father, and Finn…. Well, no one was quite sure what it was Finn did.

But there was no one in San Francisco who Logan could talk to on a daily basis about something that didn't have to do with Pnutech. There was no one Logan could go out and grab a beer with while watching the game. Steve and Jake, the co-founders of Pnutech, were both great guys, but for some reason they saw Logan as the boss, and, while Logan was pretty sure they liked him, they never seemed to be able to shake their work personas outside of the office. So Logan accepted and kept their relationships on a purely business level.

The loneliness Logan felt much of the time was the reason he started String. It was a way for him to at least pretend he was having stimulating conversations during his off hours. And, somehow, his little blog became a big draw – subject to several thousand hits per day. Of course, that is the way of the internet. He managed to make a post early on that grabbed someone's attention, who then posted a link up on Digg, and, the next thing Logan knew, his site crashed from the influx of visitors. And a lot of them stuck around. Logan never quite figured out why, but he appreciated it anyway.

It was funny how it was that empty feeling, the one that Logan, in his nearly subconscious mind, attributed to Rory, lead to Rory contacting him now. As Logan was musing this, he heard a ping, telling him that he had new mail. He turned to check, and saw that it was a response from Rory. He hadn't expected that.

"Oh, I didn't realize you were in San Francisco. That explains a few things in your posts. I'm actually headed out there next week. Any suggestions on where I should go for a quality San Francisco experience? The only people I know out there only recently moved there, so I could still use a voice of experience."

Logan's brain seemed to freeze and then suddenly go into overdrive. Rory is coming. Rory is coming. Rory is coming. He didn't know why the idea was so scary to him. He knew there was little likelihood that he would actually see her. Unless she decides to look me up. He tried to smash down the thought as soon as it popped into his head. He had no reason to think that she had even considered the fact that he was in San Francisco when planning her trip, which was obviously a trip to visit friends who had just moved.

He considered replying again, but decided it was a bad idea. After all, if he gave her suggestions of where to go, he'd know where she was, and might be tempted to try to bump into her. So he deleted the message, and turned back to his work, trying hard to put the whole exchange out of his mind.

The next Saturday, Logan went for a jog down by the piers near Fisherman's Wharf. He had just finished his route and was going to head to his boat to grab a quick drink before heading back to his condo. His boat was his other true love these days. He had bought it six months after he moved out west and tried to get in a day of sailing whenever he could, which was less often than he'd like. As he walked towards the dock, he saw her. Just sitting there, on a bench overlooking the bay. She was sipping a cup of coffee and appeared to be deep in thought.

Now what. Logan couldn't decide what to do. Should he go say hi to her? Should he turn around and pretend he never saw her? He suddenly remembered what it was like the last time he had seen her.

It was August, and Logan was back in Hartford to meet his new nephew. Honor had demanded his presence as soon after she gave birth as he could manage. As soon as he got off the plane, he had rushed to the first baby store he could find. While traversing the aisles, trying to decide if he should go for something expensive, or just something cute, he spotted her out of the corner of his eye, just as she saw him.

She half waved and he waved back. She walked over to him slowly, an almost confused look on her face.

"Wow, Logan, I never thought I'd run into you here of all places," she said.

Logan smiled. "Well, I'm an uncle now, so…"

"Oh, congratulations! Boy or girl?"

"It's a boy."

"Wow. Well, I'm just here picking up something for Lane. I missed the twins' birthdays."

"Oh."

They had both run out of things to say. They stood and stared at each other for a bit before Rory smiled again and gestured that she should be running. "It was nice seeing you, Logan."

She was gone before he could reply in kind.

While he was sure their first meeting could have been far more uncomfortable, Logan had no desire to repeat it. He turned to slink off just as he heard her voice call, "Logan?"

He stopped and turned back to her. He tried to look surprised but figured he wasn't fooling her. "Rory? Wow. What are you doing here?"

She had come right up to him, so close that he could touch without even extending his arm. "I'm in town for a couple of weeks. My friends just moved out here and asked me to help them get settled in."

"That's quite a big favor. All the way from the East Coast?"

"Oh, no, I'm living in Houston now. Although, that's kind of far, too. But they're close friends. My first friends in Houston."

"Oh."

They were both quiet for a minute. Logan began to feel that sick feeling he had felt the last time. It was the feeling that they weren't them anymore. They were no longer a couple with the easy flow of conversation and knowing smiles. Perhaps they were both just considering how much they could reveal. How much they could say to fill what seemed to be the longest moment floating between them. The loss of them hurt Logan more than anything else had hurt him since she had turned down his proposal.

"I was going to look you up while I was out here," Rory finally said.

That got Logan's attention. But all he could do was nod.

"So, I was wondering if you want to go grab a cup of coffee, catch up a bit?"

Logan's mind was racing again. He didn't know what to do. And he didn't have any time to consider what he should do. She was standing right there, watching him watching her. He could see the moment she decided he was going to say no.

"Rory –" he started to say.

"No, right, I get it, don't worry," she started babbling.

"Rory, I would love to get a cup of coffee with you."

"Really? Oh, ok. Well, you're the Frisco here, so lead the way."

Logan started walking towards a coffee house that was only a few blocks away. He had his hands in his pockets, while she had her arms crossed. They were silent for the whole three blocks. After they ordered and sat down, Rory began catching Logan up with her whole life from the past two years, seemingly all in one breath.

"…And so that's where I am now. In Houston. Working for the Chronicle."

"Wow. It sounds like everything is going really great for you. All your dreams are coming together."

Rory's face pinched as if Logan had just said something repugnant. She quickly covered it with a smile. "Yeah, things aren't too bad. Not quite exactly to plan, but I can't really complain, I guess. Anyway, what about you? What are you up to? Are you still with the same company?"

"Everything is going pretty good. Same company, which is doing great. I'm enjoying the West Coast. But, overall, my life is pretty boring right now. Not much to talk about."

"Oh, I'm sure that's not true." She waited for Logan say something more, but he stayed quiet. "Well, what about your family? How're Honor and the baby?"

"Honor is fine. The baby is fine. I was out to see them for his first birthday just recently."

"Wow, a year already."

"Yep."

Another silence fell over them.

Rory, desperate to fill the void with something, began talking again. "Well, my family is all good. Mom's inn is really beginning to take off. It was featured in Yankee Magazine a couple of months ago, so they were all very excited about that." She paused to see if Logan would comment, but he just nodded. "And Dad is doing great, too. He's been seeing someone for a while now and seems really happy. G.G. loves her."

"It sounds like everyone is doing well. The same with Emily and Richard?"

Rory just nodded. She could tell he was bringing the conversation to an end.

"Well, Rory, it was really great to see you. I'm glad we bumped into each other." Logan stood up to leave.

"Yeah, I was thinking, maybe you could give me your number and we could go out to dinner while I'm in town. We could talk a bit more." Rory stood, too, and seemed desperate to keep Logan from walking away.

"Rory…" Logan began. He could see the disappointment already in Rory's eyes. But he had to continue. "It was nice talking to you, Rory. Really, it was. And I hope you have a wonderful life and all the happiness you deserve. But I….I don't think I'm quite ready for this." He turned and quickly walked out the door. Rory stood and watched him go, hoping he would at least turn back and look at her one last time. He didn't.