In the post series world I created, I concentrated on the town of Stars Hollow, Rory/Jess, Luke/Lorelai and the Hartford Gilmores. In the back of my mind was the question -What's Logan been up to these last five years? Logan was a dichotomous character on the show, both rebellious boy and self-assured man. He was interesting, and infuriating. He could easily become a mockery of himself with only a few bad decisions. I included him in Learning To Trust, and I made him a good guy. So this story, which will be just a few chapters long and takes place beginning just after Rory gets the job at the Times, is how he arrived at being a person who could stomach helping Jess to help Rory.
If you haven't read my other stories, you may want to start there. Head on over to my profile page and read beginning with How Did I Get Here...
Disclaimer -Gilmore Girls and the characters associated with the show are not mine.
Chapter One: An Empty Life
The tree was mocking him. He shouldn't be surprised. Granted, trees didn't normally have the capability to mock. This one did. This one was relentless in its continual disparagement of him and the life he was living. He couldn't drown it out. He'd tried scotch, he tried women, and he tried drugs. He'd come to accept it. Every year, it bore more fruit. Every avocado gave mute testimony to his empty life.
"Dammit," he yelled, throwing the glass of scotch against the wall. Watching it shatter, shards exploding across the living room. He should be happy. He had achieved everything he set out to do. He didn't work for his father, he owned his company. Created it, formed it, funded it, nurtured it, and turned it into a thriving enterprise. All without any help from the great and glorious Mitchum Huntzberger. He was a success, and everyone out here knew it. Hell, in the last two years, he'd branched out, owned not only media outlets, but newspapers and internet sites which streamed content he decided to run. He was courted. Executive Producers and Directors from all the lists traveled out to Palo Alto to convince him to stream their indie movies and shows on his sites.
But he knew. He knew it was an empty life. The parties, the coke, the women and alcohol. It numbed the emptiness, but it didn't cure it. Sitting down on his white leather couch, he dropped his head into his hands and let himself remember. Her bright blue eyes, the sheen of her hair. The look on her face when he proposed in front of everyone. He knew then, he knew she wouldn't say yes. His father told him, when he mentioned his plans. His father knew her better than he did. Mitchum said, "She has dreams, boy, dreams you don't fit into." Mitchum had been right. He followed her career. First on the internet, then at the Times reporting from around the world. She was living her dream, and he didn't have a place in her world.
Truthfully, he'd never had a place in her world. Hell, he didn't know what constituted her world. He had forced her into his with all the finesse of a steam roller. To begin with he was a story, then he was a way for her to jump into life. To test herself, to live outside of herself. Eventually, he didn't even recognize her. She wasn't the same person he'd first met at Yale. Then HE came with his book, and his questions, after he left it was never the same. No, the writer took a piece of her with him. The fights, the cheating… He messed up with the bridesmaids, and she said she regretted going to Philadelphia and kissing the writer, but he wondered. He wondered if he hadn't been hurt parachuting off the cliff if they would've ended. She'd been reverting to the person she wanted to be. Of course she'd say no to the marriage proposal. He had to find a way past her. Standing, he moved to his back door, and looked out into his yard. The sun was setting, but he could barely see the beauty of it because of the damn tree. Mocking him with its full boughs of avocados.
Throwing open the door, he moved across the yard with speed and a sense of purpose to the garage. The woman leaning against her second floor deck rail, watched him with interest. She'd made a study of him since he'd moved in next to her parents home. She'd even gone to his parties. Walked in the front door as if she'd been invited. He always seemed alone, an observer. She watched, curious, as he came out, dragging the axe behind him. Shocked as he swung the axe up over his head and down on the largest limb of the avocado tree in his back yard. Thumping crack after thumping crack echoed in the hills as she ran through the yard, dragged a deck chair to the privacy fence and clambered over, falling graceless on to his lawn. Questioning her judgment as she ran toward the lunatic with the axe.
"Stop! What are you doing? My God, stop, please!" she yelled as she ran. Her voice broke him out of whatever spell he was under, and he dropped the axe. Collapsing with exhaustion to his knees amongst the wreckage of avocados.
Stumbling over a branch, the blond woman fell to her knees in front of him, grabbing at him to stop her momentum. He instinctively offered her his hands, and they sat there in silence. Tears running down her face at the destruction. Him gasping, fighting for breath.
"Why?" she asked. Raising his head, he looked at her. She was the opposite of Rory. Blond, with big brown eyes. Dark, dark chocolate colored eyes. A fuller face with high cheek bones. Lips, full and luscious. Devoid of makeup. Despite the natural sensuality, she looked untouched. Real. Like Rory, and like Rory, she was demanding answers with her gaze.
"It represents a life which doesn't exist. Will never exist. It was mocking me." The words sounded silly said out loud. "It's a long story. A boring one too," he added, only then noticing he was still holding her hands. Getting to his feet, he pulled her up out of the avocados.
"I have time. I want to listen, and I think you need to talk. Otherwise, this tree will continue to pay the price, and it has paid enough already," she said. Her hand tracing the axe marks along the trunk.
"Come on in, then. I'll tell you my sad tale of woe, and then maybe you'll understand why it needs to go," Logan said as he led the way into his house. Leaving the door open behind him. She'd follow or she wouldn't. At this point, he didn't care.
A/N- Remember to review! Please? Or the avocado tree gets it! Kidding!
