A/N:

This is for Starlight841. I hope you like it and think I did justice to your favorite quote. Slightly late due to my wonderful beta's time constraints. Sorry! Thanks to my beta, Julia, and a few others who helped when I needed it. Prompt is at the end.

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He watched the bag turn in the microwave. Only a few plops disrupted the faint monotonous buzzing which ended in a sudden "Ding!"

"Logan, would you get the popcorn please?" a faint voice croaked from the couch.

"I'm already on it, Ace!" he called over while simultaneously taking the steaming bag from the microwave. He dumped the contents into a bowl, grabbed a bottle of cold medicine, and made his way over to where she was sprawled out on the couch.

Logan glanced at her set-up: Two big pillows behind her back, covered in several blankets and a huge quilt, family sized box of tissues to her left, an array of remotes to her right. "Are you sure you want to do this here? You might be warmer in bed."

Rory groaned, "Logan, I'm fine, honestly! Plus, I really don't feel like walking right now. And besides, the bed is cold right now anyway."

"Oh, don't worry," he chuckled. "I'd be more than happy to carry you over there and help you warm up. You know, body heat is the best kind of heat..."

"Oh no, mister." Her face belied the warning her hoarse voice could not express. "You stay in your corner, far, far away from me and my germs."

Sighing, he let himself fall into his assigned corner of the couch and handed the bowl of popcorn to his sick and growling Ace before she had a chance to complain. "And I brought you your meds," he said, while trying to fill the tiny measuring cup. She made a face as he handed her the red liquid. "Atta girl!" he praised her as she took it down in one gulp. "See? Doctor Logan knows what's best for his Ace."

His plans for the week had been slightly different. With Richard and Emily out of town, he was free to spend a few days with Rory in the pool house without constant fear of either grandparent showing up unannounced. Everything had been fine on Monday and Tuesday, but when he had come back after his afternoon class on Wednesday, she had been kind of moody and listless. She had not even tried to pick a fight with him when he had taken control of the remote that evening. During the night, she had started coughing and, eventually, after she had unsuccessfully tried to kick him out of bed (he just had not wanted to leave her alone), she had moved to the couch where she had been camping out now for the last two days.

At some point she had told him, or rather ordered him, to leave, but he had no intentions of doing so and she was too weak to fight back anyway. The argument that she could not really take care of herself had finally registered with her when she had collapsed on her way to the bathroom the previous day. His offer to call a doctor had, of course, been declined. As long as she was taking the cold medication he had gotten at the local drugstore, staying warm and hydrated, and eating, he was fine respecting her wishes.

There had been so many other things on his list for this week, but spending half of it hanging out on her couch in sweatpants and making mac 'n cheese for a very sick Rory had most certainly not been on it. Though strangely enough, he kind of enjoyed it.

"So Ace," he said, watching her munch on the popcorn while choosing the right remote for the DVD player, "remind me again why we are watching a Christmas movie in September."

"It's not a Christmas movie if the title is not Christmas related," she sounded so cute with her stuffy nose.

Logan fetched the DVD case from the coffee table. "Come on! There is snow on the cover and it has a red velvet ribbon on it."

She had made her way through the DVD menu to start the movie and tried leaning his way to snatch the case from him, but he held it out of reach. She sighed, giving him her most menacing stare, knitted brows and all. "Logan, give me that. No mocking one of my favorite movies. It's called 'Love Actually' so, guess what, it deals with love, actually, not only Christmas. And we are watching it because I'm sick and I want to watch it. If you don't, you're welcome to leave."

He got up, grinning inwardly. Rory's expression turned from frowning to lost in a fraction of a second.

"Wait Logan, I didn't mean it," she wheezed. "We can watch something else if you want to! Where are you going? Don't go!"

He had made his way into the kitchen, looking through the plastic bags he had brought back from the drugstore. Peeping over the back of the couch, Rory watched him. "Logan, what are you up to?" She was already panting from all the talking.

He had found what he had been looking for and took the box with him. "Don't worry, Ace," he said, a wide grin spreading on his lips as he jumped over the back of the couch. "I just wanted to get my own box of tissues, in case I start to tear up and you don't want to share."

Rolling her eyes, but at the same time suppressing a grin she growled at him, "Oh, hush you. Stop being cute."

As the movie started, he just settled into his corner, propping his feet on the coffee table. He even managed to suppress a snide remark when the character on screen started singing, "Christmas is all around us…"

The movie was not half bad, actually decent in his opinion, maybe a little too girlish here and there, but he found himself enjoying how all the connections between the different characters were introduced and played out. Some of the couples were a little predictable from the very beginning, but one couple, or rather a love triangle intrigued him. Though watching Rory enjoying one of her favorite movies was actually more interesting than the movie itself. She was nibbling on her bottom lip during the tense scenes and sighing with delight at the overly cute ones.

"Watch this scene," Rory suddenly croaked out. She had been unusually quiet during the movie which was probably due to the 'non-drowsy' medication not keeping its promise.

On screen, the Mark guy, an artist, draftsman of grand gestures and part of the love triangle, was standing in front of Juliet's house. Juliet had gotten married to Mark's best friend, Peter, at the very beginning of the movie. But throughout the movie it had become obvious to both the viewer and Juliet that Mark had a thing for her, although he had always pretended to hate her, for self preservation reasons as he had explained.

In this scene, he was playing Silent Night from a boom box while holding up a set of poster boards. Logan didn't have to read them to know what they said, because he could hear Rory's strained and wheezy voice whisper them as they were showing up.

"With any luck, by next year - I'll be going out with one of these girls," Rory spoke under her breath. The next card came up, picturing a bunch of cutouts of models. She carried on with the following card, "But for now let me say, -Without hope or agenda."

He wondered briefly, how anybody could say something without an agenda, but his thoughts were cut off by more whispering.

"Just because it's Christmas - And on Christmas you tell the truth - To me, you are perfect." As the characters on screen locked their eyes for a moment, Rory sighed, a dreamy expression on her face.

He was flabbergasted for a second. "Wow, this is…"

He was cut off by an impatient "Hush!"

More cards, more whispered reading out loud, "And my wasted heart will love you - until you look like this." The guy's next card showed a picture of a mummified human body. Rory passed on wording out the last card, that said, "Merry Christmas."

Logan stared at the screen open mouthed while another delighted sigh could be heard from the opposite corner of the couch. On screen, the Mark character took his boom box and poster boards, flashed the girl another half smile and walked off, only to be followed by Juliet a few seconds later. She stopped him, briefly kissed him on the lips, another moment of locking eyes and then she disappeared off, back to her house where her absolutely oblivious husband had been sitting in the living room, watching TV, while this encounter had played out at his own front door.

Logan could not take it any longer. He swiftly reached over to grab the remote that had slipped off Rory's lap and paused the movie.

"Wow, Ace, this was…" he began, not sure how to phrase this.

"The most romantic profession of love ever?" she tried to help out, the dreamy expression still on her face. He wondered for a moment, how much exactly cold medication could cloud a person's perception.

His forehead wrinkled, his brows furrowed, as he bit lower lip. He was still trying to find the right words. "No Ace, this was no romantic profession of love. This was a stupid guy possibly endangering the happiness of his best friend and the girl he's supposedly in love with."

"Logan, how can you say that?"

"Just look at him! How can he just walk up to her and tell her he has no hope or agenda and then tell her he loves her? A guy never tells a girl he loves her when he has no intentions of being with her. Either that, or he's lying."

"But he's truly in love with her, all he wants is for her to be happy, so he doesn't want to get together with her. See, no intentions. Plus, maybe he just had to get it off his chest."

"How can he want what's best for her and put her in such an awkward situation? The ball is in her court now. Actually, it's pathetic. He pretty much gave her an open invitation to screw over her husband and his best friend to be with him whenever she felt like it. How will she ever forget about that 'option' with him being in her life all the time and how will he ever be able to get over her when he promised to love her until she's some ugly mummy. There will always be tension between them."

"But there doesn't have to be. You'll see that in the end, there is no tension."

"How can there not be? Ok, this is a movie, it's not real life. But I'm pretty sure, that in real life, this wouldn't be possible."

Rory glared at him. "I think you just spoiled one of my favorite movie moments of all time for me."

He felt bad as he saw how her glare had turned into sadness. "I'm sorry Ace," he said, actually meaning it. It had not been his intention to hurt her feelings. "I bet that from the girl perspective, this is a perfectly cute and fluffy gesture, but from the guy perspective, you just don't confess your love to your best mate's girl. It gets messy."

Rory had gotten silent once more, playing with a loose thread from the quilt. "So, any experience stealing you best mate's girl?" she asked tentatively.

Logan groaned inwardly, he had gotten himself into this situation, so he had to get out. "No, I wouldn't do that. As I said, it's just a thing between guys, it's in the code, so to speak." He hesitated for a moment. "But if Finn ever declared his undying love for you, I don't think I'd be too happy about it."

She laughed, her eyes dancing at something she remembered. "Oh, you know he has done that on several occasions."

Of course he knew that. "But what if he really meant it? What if he really loved you, just like…" He trailed off. He should not go there, not tonight.

"Just like…?" She looked at him expectantly, probably knowing what he was about to say. He had to save the situation.

"Just like Mark loves Juliet."

Her expression said that she didn't buy it, but she didn't press it either. "Well, at least you acknowledge that he's truly in love with her."

Logan sighed. "That he might be, but clearly, his love for her is clouding his better judgement."

Before she could say anything more, he hushed at her and pressed the play button on the remote. "Don't strain your voice, Ace, you might need it to finally win an argument one of these days." She pouted, a tiny growl escaping her lips. He just winked at her.